Bleeding Out
by SnowBird1452
Summary: Ever since Klaus saved her on the night of her birthday, Caroline has been having strange dreams and is unable to shake the feeling that a connection is forming between them. What will happen when Klaus finds out and how will this factor in with everything else going on in Mystic Falls and beyond? T for now, probably M later. Starts S4E7.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing having to do with The Vampire Diaries in any shape or form, nor do I have any fiscal stake in writing this story. It is purely for creative enjoyment. The only things I own are my original take on TVD universe and any original characters if I feel like adding some.

**Author's Note:** I've been working on this specific story/concept since My Brother's Keeper, the Miss Mystic episode from season 4. Obviously outside of that I really have always longed for more between Klaus and Caroline, so ideas have been floating around since her birthday episode when he saved her and my love for their pairing sprouted.

I really don't like when people just use dialog/the exact same story from the show or whatever they're writing their fiction for and add one or two things and are like "here's my story". That being said, this first chapter revolves around Miss Mystic, so about half of it is original from the show and half is new/added by me. I just want to clarify that this is most likely the only chapter to do that. I just wanted the base solid and it will develop from here into it's own thing.

I really have been disappointed with the second half of season 4, so while some of it will have to remain the same, ei. Silas/the race for the cure, there will be a LOT of differences and I wouldn't hold your breath for Klaus/Hayley baby. (p.s. What the hell was up with that? I mean, I am a Klaus/Caroline person, but that wasn't even my issue with this plot "twist". It was just so unbelievably stupid. Plus I just think Hayley is the most useless thing I've ever witnessed and can't believe they're trying to make her relevant. *gag*)

Last thing, this first chapter isn't the most exciting because it is more a spring board/solid foundation for the rest of the story, but chapter two, which will hopefully be up by later tonight, will give you a good idea of where this is going. I'm already about 20K into this story so chapter two is already done, I just need to re-read and edit. Basically I'm asking you to stick with me cause I promise, I'm going somewhere with it.

Thank you for reading and please feel free to review (and leave comments on your feelings with the backdoor pilot if you feel so inclined; I'd love to know what other fans thought). I don't have a beta so I just write, re-read and edit about 20 times before uploading, so forgive any mistakes you find. I try to get them all but I am human, so they're in there, I'm sure.

So thanks again for reading, I hope I do all our favorite characters justice and I that you enjoy my story.

* * *

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop!" Caroline all but shouted, holding up her free hand to signal for the young girls on set-up crew to halt their actions. "What are you doing? Those clearly go in the back on the tables and you would know this if you took the time to memorize the floral charts." When they stared blankly back at her, she rolled her eyes. "In the back. Go on, go. Thank you," she huffed sarcastically as she went back to checking the list of prep work she needed to complete before the Miss Mystic Falls pageant would be ready.

"Now how did I know that I would find you at the helm of this ship?"

Sighing at the familiar, overly charming voice, Caroline flipped to the second sheet, not even feeling the need to look up at the Original. "Go away. I'm busy," she mumbled, scribbling down a note to keep an eye on the flower girls.

"I was just wondering what time I should come pick you up tomorrow," Klaus said, unaffected by Caroline's cold demeanor, his hands folding politely behind his back.

Caroline looked up from her clipboard, sparing a critical glance over her shoulder at the vampire beside her. "How about a quarter to never?" she asked, turning her attention back to her work.

"I was promised a date in return for one of my hybrids," he smiled, unwilling to let Caroline's blatant rudeness damper his good mood.

"Yes," Caroline nodded, turning to face him. "A date. Like to the movies where we don't have to talk and I can put at least three seats between us."

Klaus smirked to himself, loving the verbal sparing she always provided. Under normal circumstances, if any person tried to talk to him that way, Klaus would've had no problem with setting them straight. For some reason the blonde baby vampire standing before him created a startling exception to his usual rules. Where anyone else would've been laying in a pool of blood decapitated, Caroline's snark made her endearing to him.

"I cannot believe the reining Miss Mystic Falls will be hosting this party alone and I am assuming that you will not be taking Tyler after the indiscretions with his lady werewolf friend," he said innocently, looking up at her from under his long eyelashes.

Caroline eyed him suspiciously, pursing her lips together in agitation. "Fine," she finally sighed, giving up. "If you insist on coming, meet me here at 2 p.m. Black tie optional," she breathed, turning to start up the stairs into the house. Spinning back around, she pointed her finger at him threateningly as a thought dawned on her. "I already have a dress so don't you even so much as think about getting me a corsage, got it?"

Doing his best to hide the overzealous smile that was threatening to break through his normally cold exterior, Klaus let his eyes fall to his feet, nodding his head like a chastised schoolboy. Smirking triumphantly, he glanced up at where she had already turned and started towards the house. "I will see you tomorrow, Caroline!" he called after her rapidly retreating form.

The rest of the day passed quickly and before she knew it, Caroline was at home washing her face and getting ready for bed. Glancing down at her phone, Caroline saw she had a new text from Elena. Opening it, she smiled, laughing quietly to herself.

**Pick me up tomorrow morning on your way  
to the pageant. Someone needs to keep you  
from a nuclear meltdown during last **

**minute prep.**

**-E**

Caroline quickly typed out a response, flipping off the lights to her bathroom and padding into her bedroom.

**Meltdown? Me? Never.  
Thanks Elena, you're the best.  
-C**

Sighing, Caroline inspected her dress for the next day from where it hung on her closet door. Subconsciously her eyes drifted to where the sketch Klaus had left for her after the ball lay on top of her dresser. _Thanks for the honesty_. "Ugh," Caroline scoffed, shaking her head at herself as she pulled back the covers and shut off the light. Tomorrow was another day. A day that she, Caroline Forbes, had a date with Klaus. Oh well. She'd just have to suck it up and try to make the best of it.

* * *

_Her head was throbbing. She couldn't remember the last time she was this sick. Had she ever been this sick? Caroline's whole body ached. It felt like fire was rushing through her veins. As she forced her eyes to close tighter, she silently prayed for it to all just go away, for everything to get better._

_Caroline's ears vaguely picked up on quiet footsteps approaching her bedside. Blinking a few times to clear her vision, she stared up in disbelief at the vampire standing in front of her. "Klaus? What are you doing here?" she murmured._

"_It's your birthday, love," Klaus said quietly. "You are sick and I wanted to come help you, to heal you. Don't you believe me?" Caroline studied him carefully before finally deciding what she was seeing was a mixture of sadness and embarrassment._

_Never being one to not speak her mind, she frowned back at him. "No."_

_Sighing, Klaus took a step towards the bed, his right hand carefully pulling back the covers that were hiding Caroline's neck from his view. For the briefest of moments, Klaus actually grimaced and averted his eyes to the wall behind the bed. "That looks uncomfortable," he breathed quietly. "I did all this before I knew you, before I fully understood how special you are… how important." Seeing she was unmoved by his words, Klaus' lips twitched into a regretful smile. "You know, I love birthdays," he shared softly, reaching out to inspect the charm bracelet on her right wrist._

"_Yeah, we've already had that conversation, remember?" she asked, her brow scrunching in confusion as beads of sweat pooled on her brow._

_Frowning, Klaus carefully perched himself on the edge of Caroline's bed, folding his hands and setting them atop his knee. "My apologies, Caroline. Should we talk about something else? Perhaps how your hybrid boyfriend attacked you?"_

"_He didn't mean to," she whined, the throbbing in her head intensifying. "It was all your fault."_

_Nodding absentmindedly, Klaus's hand came up to gently push a few stray locks of hair out of her eyes before laying his hand against her forehead. "You are burning up, Caroline. You need to be healed."_

_Taking a deep breath, Caroline tried to blink away the fuzziness that was affecting her vision. "We've already done this. You healed me already. I don't understand."_

"_I have?" Klaus asked, squinting his eyes in confusion. "Then why are you still sick, sweetheart?"_

"_I don't know," she hissed, trying to fight off slipping into unconsciousness. "I just- God," she groaned, grabbing her head. "Everything is spinning. Why is the room spinning?"_

_Frowning, Klaus scooped Caroline up in his arms, propping her up on his raised knee. Pulling back his sleeve, he held up his wrist to Caroline's lips, gently running his fingers through her hair. "It will be alright," he shushed, gently kissing the top of her head. "Here, drink. It will make it all better, I promise."_

_As Caroline leaned in, fangs extended, everything changed. The wrist from in front of her face was gone and she was in a crowded room in a large house that seemed familiar. Everyone was in tuxedos and ball gowns. "You've got to be kidding me," she muttered, spinning around to find Klaus standing and facing her, his eyes dancing with excitement. She was back at his ball at his house. "Not this again."_

"_You look positively breathtaking, Caroline," he smiled brightly as he approached. _

"_Yeah well, blue's my color," she retorted, automatically looking for Elena or Stefan to gravitate to._

_Laughing musically, Klaus slid his arm around her waist and began leading her towards the ballroom. "Yes, I know."_

"_What game are we playing now?" Caroline questioned as they stopped in the middle of the room._

_Giving her an amused look, Klaus turned to stand directly beside her, slipping his unoccupied hand into hers. "No games, love. In case you did not hear, my brother has explained that it is a tradition for us to dance. We were instructed to pick a partner-"_

"_Well pick someone else," Caroline scowled, weakly trying to pull her hand from his._

"_I don't want someone else," Klaus breathed, craning his neck down so that they were at eye level. "And seeing as though this is my party at my house…"_

_Blinking, Caroline was confused to see she was outside standing in front of a horse. "What the hell," she whispered, reaching a gloved hand out to pet the creature's mane. _

"_You like horses?" _

_Sighing, Caroline looked to her right to see she was not as alone as she previously thought. Beside her stood Klaus, his hands folded behind his back. "How are you doing this?"_

"_Throwing a ball?" he asked, looking at her like she'd grown a second head. "It's quite simple really. You of all people should understand the logistics. You plan high school dances all the time."_

"_Give me a break," Caroline hissed, rolling her eyes. "Not throwing a ball. Making me see things, going back to times when we spent time together."_

_Letting out a short laugh, Klaus stopping beside her. "I haven't the foggiest as to what you're talking about, Caroline. Perhaps you've had a bit too much to drink."_

"_Oh come on," she mumbled, giving him the evil eye. "What do you want from me, really?"_

_Flashing her a toothy grin, Klaus shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "I fancy you, Caroline. Is that so hard to believe?"_

"_Yes," she said, completely exasperated. "I don't understand this at all. I'm not your type." _

"_Why not?" he challenged, taking a step towards her. "You're beautiful, you're strong… you're full of light." Looking her over once more, his eyes landed firmly on hers. "I enjoy you, immensely."_

_Caroline frowned at his words. Even though she knew feeling anything less than hatred for Klaus was wrong, she couldn't ignore that there was something there. It freaked her out and completely terrified her, but it was definitely there. "Well, I'm spoken for, by Tyler."_

"_Ah, but I thought you two ended things," Klaus countered, studying her closely._

"_Yeah, because of you and your freaky sire bond crap," she frowned, pulling her wrap higher on her shoulders._

"_So then you aren't spoken for," Klaus smirked as he leaned in closely, his lips hovering over hers._

Gasping for air, Caroline shot up in bed, her eyes widely searching the room. "Oh my God," she breathed, clutching her chest as she tried to get a hold of herself. Taking a few steadying breaths, she leaned back against her headboard and closed her eyes. "What the hell is wrong with me?"

* * *

As Elena approached Caroline's black Ford Focus, she couldn't help but notice her blonde best friend looked a little on edge. "Hey Care," she greeted, smiling as she slipped into the car, buckling her seat belt. "You look… awake."

With her eyes narrowed to slits, Caroline glared over at Elena as she pulled out onto the street. "Yeah, well, a Klaus nightmare will do that to you. Woke up at three and could not fall back asleep."

"What?" Elena questioned, adjusting herself in her seat to face Caroline. "What kind of nightmare?"

"Well, it wasn't really a nightmare per say, but any dream containing Klaus should automatically receive that label," the blonde vampire muttered as she checked both ways before making a left hand turn.

Elena frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not a mind reader, Caroline. You're going to have to go into a little more detail than that if I'm supposed to contribute to this conversation."

Sighing, Caroline glanced over at Elena. "I guess I haven't exactly been super honest with you lately." Seeing Elena opening her mouth to protest, Caroline cut her off before was able to begin. "Before you get all angry and jump to conclusions, let me finish."

"Alright," Elena nodded, leaning back against the door of the car. "Spill."

"I may or may not have been having dreams about Klaus," Caroline said quickly, wincing at how crazy her statement sounded, even to her. "Like, for a while."

"You've been what?" Elena questioned, her face shocked. "What kind of dreams?"

Taking a deep breath, Caroline tried to think of how to explain things without making herself seem strange. "First thing is first; no telling. I mean it Elena, not anyone," Caroline said seriously. "I can't let it get out that I'm Klausing it up in my sleep every night."

"Every night?" Elena hissed nervously, completely taken aback. When Caroline shot her an angry expression, Elena held up her hands in a gesture of peace. "I'm sorry. It's just a lot to take in. I won't tell a soul, promise." Giving her an innocent expression, Elena gave her a small smile. "No judging. Please, continue."

Giving her one last look, Caroline sighed in defeat. "I've been having dreams about Klaus." Caroline looked down at her nails in embarrassment as she waited for the light to change to green. "I don't know why and I've tried to not have them, but no matter what I do every night when I close my eyes, bam! There he is."

Trying her best to not sound judgmental, Elena watched her friends face closely. "These dreams aren't like, fantasy style, are they?"

Her mouth dropping in horror, Caroline quickly glanced over at her best friend in shock. "Come on! No!"

"Hey, no judging, remember?" Elena reminded, shrugging her shoulders as she tried to keep her face neutral. "I mean, he's completely deranged and a psychopath who kills people for no reason like it's no big deal, but that's cool if you're into that sort of thing, I guess."

"I mean, at least not yet," Caroline's voice squeaked quietly. Elena literally bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from saying something she knew would upset Caroline. "I usually wake up before anything happens, thank God, but I think that's where they might be going," she shared nervously. "What is wrong with me, Elena? He's crazy and evil."

Pursing her lips together in thought, Elena shook her head. "I don't know. These aren't something you want though? You aren't… attracted to him, are you?" Even saying that sentence made bile rise in Elena's throat.

"No, no," Caroline said firmly, shaking her head. "I mean," she mumbled, putting her car into park in the Lockwood's driveway. "I can't, can I? Ugh, what is wrong with me!" Caroline shouted, her head falling onto the steering wheel of her car as she silently cursed herself.

Elena placed a comforting hand on Caroline's back. "Caroline, be honest. Do you, you know, like him?"

"He's awful Elena," Caroline cried, sitting up and turning to face her friend. "After all the bad things he has done to you, to our friends? He's killed people we care about, and I'm with Tyler. I love him and I would never cheat on him. This is just some weird vampire thing, right? Maybe it's because I drank his blood. That's always where the dream starts. That could be it, couldn't it?"

"After Tyler bit you on your birthday?" Elena asked, her face serious.

Caroline nodded. "I never really went into details with that I guess, did I?" she mumbled, her hands twisting in her lap. Elena silently raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "Well, I was dying and he just showed up in my room acting apologetic and sorry. It was really strange. He was completely different than I've ever seen him, Elena. At first I thought it was a hallucination because there was no way he would actually come save me in the first place and never in a million years would my mom ever invite him into our house, but there he was. So he is all 'Caroline, I'm sorry, you're collateral damage and I never meant to hurt you. It's your birthday, I love birthdays' blah, blah, blah," Caroline explained quickly, doing her best Klaus English impersonation. "And I'm like, 'yeah right buddy, I don't believe you'. So he starts saying all this crazy stuff Elena, like how he wants to show me the true beauty of the world and how I have so much to live for."

"That is so weird Care," Elena mumbled, believing every word her friend was saying but finding it hard to digest. To Elena, Klaus was pure evil. He killed Jenna and was responsible for what happened to Alaric and her. He had done nothing but terrible, self-serving things since he arrived in Mystic Falls and as she guessed, long before as well. Why would he save Caroline? What was in it for him? More importantly and stranger still, why would he waste time talking to her? Why not just heal her and be done with it? Why sit and chat her up saying such personal things? He must want her to owe him and would try to cash in on it later. That was the only reason Elena could think of.

"I know!" Caroline exclaimed, her eyes wide as she threw her arms up into the air. "I tell him that I don't want to die and just like that he gives me his blood. Just rolls up his sleeve and holds it in front of my face like it was nothing."

Letting out a huff, Elena stared off into space as she thought over the story. "Has he ever asked for anything?"

"No," Caroline shrugged looking utterly baffled. "And the strange part is, he has saved me twice now. Once from the Tyler bite and once from Alaric in the school."

Sighing, Elena shrugged as well, shaking her head. "I don't know what to tell you Care. Maybe he actually likes you, as strange and completely off-putting as that is."

"Ugh," Caroline growled, throwing her head back against the headrest. "Why is this happening to me?"

"I don't know," Elena chuckled, gathering her things in her arms. "But we better go get ready for today. Don't worry about it, Caroline. We will figure everything out," she said, offering words of comfort to her friend on what was sure to be a stressful enough day without worrying about her Klaus dreams.

* * *

Caroline kept her pageant smile plastered on her face as she stood up on the stairs waiting for Jeremy to show. When he didn't and Matt stepped up to escort April, she breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"Well thank God for that," she mumbled, quickly descending the stairs to where Klaus stood waiting for her.

"Where's Elena's brother?" he questioned quietly as she came to a stop in front of him.

"I don't know, but I'm about to find out," she hissed, bypassing him and heading in Elena's direction as the dance portion began. As if it wasn't bad enough that the staff was sucking at their jobs and Tyler was holding hands with the werewolf bitch, now Jeremy was missing and Klaus was the closest thing she has to a stable presence. That was a pretty unsettling feeling.

"Hey," Caroline whispered sweetly, coming up behind Elena who was on her cell phone. "What's with the last minute escort change? Where is Jer?"

"I'm calling him right now but he's not picking up," Elena said, looking nervous.

"Do the math," Damon interrupted, coming to stand beside Caroline who glared openly at him. "Emo teen plus an open bar. It's fine."

Elena sighed as she put her phone back in her clutch. "Matt said Jeremy has been having dreams about killing vampires and has been hiding it from me."

"What?" Caroline hissed, completely shocked, dropping her calm, cool and collected pageant demeanor.

"Relax," Damon mumbled as he glanced around. "I'm sure he's fine."

"I don't know," Elena said, shaking her head. "I have a bad feeling."

Damon put a hand on Elena's shoulder gently. "If I'm not worried you shouldn't be worried. Let it go. I'll go look for him."

Caroline and Damon shared a fake smile with each other as he left. As soon as he was gone, Caroline leaned forward to talk directly to Elena. "Ok, you go home and I'll start asking around here. We will get to the bottom of this faster if we divide and conquer."

"I don't know Caroline, maybe Damon is right," Elena shrugged. "Maybe Jeremy just grabbed a bottle from the bar and snuck off to the woods or something."

"No," Caroline challenged, completely not believing what she was hearing. "Maybe Damon is never right. Damon is sneaky and manipulative and rude, but he's never right. Elena, please tell me that was a joke."

Elena's calm face melted away into one of annoyance as she looked past Caroline to where Klaus was slowly making his way through the crowd over to where they were standing. "Not really, Caroline."

Caroline's mouth dropped open in shock, no longer caring if people could hear their conversation. "Seriously? Ok, fine. Friendervention," she scowled. "I think your so-called feelings for Damon are really starting to cloud your judgment and I don't like it. Oh yeah, and the thought of you two together really makes me want to barf."

"Easy there, love," Klaus whispered from where he now stood to Caroline's left. "You're starting make a scene."

Elena eyed Klaus and then Caroline like they were the most disgusting things she'd ever seen. "Wow, Caroline. Are you serious? You are going to judge me when you're here with him?" With that, Elena turned and stormed away.

As she watched Elena walk away, Caroline pursed her lips in agitation. "What just happened? How did I become the bad guy?" she asked out loud, more to herself than anyone.

Moving to stand in front of her and offering up his arm for her to take, Klaus flashed her a sympathetic smile. "Let's get you a drink. I can tell you all about being the bad guy."

Exhaling loudly in defeat, Caroline rolled her eyes and slipped her arm into Klaus's. "You are annoyingly smooth today, you know that?"

"I've had a thousand years to practice, but you're not so bad yourself, sweetheart," he said, patting her hand lightly as he led her to the bar. "A bottle of your best champagne and two glasses please," Klaus said, compelling the bartender.

"Right away, sir," he said robotically, fetching what Klaus requested.

"So, what seems to be the current crisis of moment for Mystic Fall's favorite friendship circle?" Klaus asked Caroline as he accepted the bottle and glasses from the bartender and began slowly walking towards the lake as she fell into step beside him.

Caroline sighed, shaking her head. "It's Elena. She has these ridiculous feelings for Damon and the guy is a complete sleaze. I mean, she's always had them, but ever since she's turned it's like the multiplied."

"Are you sure you aren't just being a tad bit overprotective?" Klaus inquired, listening intently to every word Caroline was sharing with him.

"No," she huffed, thinking over her choice of words. "It's like, when Damon says jump, Elena asks how high. It sucks." Klaus nodded, indicating he was still following along. "I mean, I'm her best friend, or at least I'm supposed to be. It is my job to warn her when she is making a giant mistake, right?"

"Personally I could care less about the love life of Elena Gilbert, but I suppose if you feel that strongly about it, then your reasoning is justified," he shrugged, looking over at her. "Come to think of it, it's almost as if becoming a has vampire changed her."

Caroline turned to him as they continued walking, eyeing him suspiciously. "Being a vampire doesn't change who you are, it just amplifies it. It doesn't turn you into a completely different person unless she flipped the switch, which she didn't. Wait, can it?"

Klaus flashed her an all-knowing smile. "It certainly is peculiar."

Chuckling at his odd behavior, Caroline raised an eyebrow in question at him. "What does that even mean?"

"You are a very intelligent woman, Caroline. It will all make sense in time, and knowing you it will be sooner rather than later," Klaus breathed, gesturing for Caroline to sit on an old stone bench overlooking the lake.

As she watched him set down the two glasses, Caroline frowned. "Whatever. Just hurry up and find the cure, would you? I want my best friend back."

Klaus smiled brightly down at the blonde vampire as he sat down himself. "Rest assured darling, I am working on it."

Caroline watched Klaus with mild interest as he worked at opening their bottle of champagne when something came to her. "Would you ever, you know, take it?"

"Now why would I want to cure myself of being the most powerful creature on the planet?" he asked, chuckling as he popped the top of the bottle.

"So there hasn't been a single moment in your entire life that you haven't wanted to be human?" Caroline prodded, not quite believing him.

Klaus gave her a humored expression as he poured them each a glass. "How about you?"

Accepting the glass from the Original, Caroline sipped it as she contemplated the question. "Yeah, a few times. But being a vampire hasn't been all bad."

"Shocking," Klaus teased, earning a slap in the shoulder from Caroline. "You're telling me you don't miss the days of being chair of the Mystic Falls Beautification Committee?" Caroline blinked at him in confusion as he pulled a folded up piece of white paper from his jacket. "And-let's see here… the director of the policeman's yearly Christmas raffle-"

"Is that my Miss Mystic application?" Caroline shouted, lunging for the paper.

Klaus, being much older and faster than her jumped to his feet and stepped out of her reach. "When I am chosen, I plan to redefine excellence. Now I am really enjoying your use of the word 'when' here. It's very confident," he smirked, waggling his eyebrows at her in attempt to rile her up further.

Caroline sighed, crossing her arms over her chest as Klaus smiled back at her. "And above all I promise to aspire, inspire and perspire- obviously we've run into a shortage of words ending in –spire," he chuckled as she grabbed for the paper again.

"Very funny," Caroline laughed as he hid the paper behind his back. "It's hilarious," she grumbled, trying to give him a mean look but failing miserably when she saw the genuine happiness on his face. She couldn't help but take note of the first time that she had seen him smile before. Sure, he smirked at her all the time, but this was different. Klaus actually seemed happy, and in this moment, Caroline actually had a hard time believing this was the same murderous vampire everyone had been living in fear of.

"Do you concede?" Klaus asked as Caroline took up her seat once again.

Rolling her eyes, Caroline patted the spot beside her for him to sit. "I can't believe you would compel some poor pageant person just to get my application. What's the point anyway? You just wanted to embarrass me?" Klaus sat quietly, his eyes drifting over her face as Caroline fidgeted. "What?" she asked finally, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "Is there something on my face?"

"Hardly," Klaus breathed, simply smiling back at her as if all were right with the world. "Caroline, may I ask you something?"

Letting out an un-lady like snort, Caroline shrugged. "Sure, why not."

Klaus's smile lessened and turned into more a look of concentration as he studied her face carefully, wanting to cement this moment in his memory for all time. Caroline was here with him of her own free will, and she was smiling, laughing and actually seeming to enjoy herself. It was something he never wanted to forget. "Why do you involve yourself with all of these projects and committees? Why Miss Mystic Falls? It's not as though you could possibly be passionate about every single item on this list," he muttered, holding up her application.

"What do you mean?" Caroline asked, still smiling as she took a sip of her champagne.

"Director of the policeman's yearly Christmas raffle?" Klaus questioned, raising an eyebrow over at Caroline as he read from the paper in his hand. "Some of these are just ridiculous. And correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't a lot of these things spousal activities?"

"What are you trying to say?" Caroline asked, amusement written all over her face as her mouth hung open in mock offense.

Chuckling, Klaus shrugged his shoulders, downing the rest of his drink. "I'm not trying to say anything. I am, however, implying that your chosen activities would be something a group of retired wives or stay at home mothers do for fun to get out of their homes and away from their children, not a young woman." Hearing Caroline laugh made the corners of his mouth twitch into an unconscious smile.

"Yeah, alright," Caroline smirked, laughing outright at his playful jab. "I'm a middle aged spinster, I get it."

"No, that's precisely my point, Caroline. You are a vibrant, lively young woman," Klaus argued, gently nudging her shoulder with his. "Why aren't you out living your life instead of planning, running and overseeing every social event of this town?"

"Why is this such a big deal to you?" Caroline asked, giving him a disbelieving look.

Shrugging, his ears picked up on Mayor Lockwood calling Caroline's name from over in the bustle of the pageant. "I believe the judges have come to a decision," he said, looking away back towards the tables of people. "Your constituents are searching for their reigning Miss Mystic Falls."

"Yeah," Caroline mumbled, standing and smoothing out her dress. "Shall we?"

Klaus blinked up at her, momentarily caught off guard at her invitation for him to accompany her. "Yes, where are my manners," he said, rising to his full height, re-buttoning his sport coat and holding out his arm for her.

* * *

Once the winner was announced and everything had settled down, Klaus asked Caroline to take a short walk around the property with him, promising that it would be his final request of her for the day. Most of the walk was spent in a surprisingly comfortable silence, the pair walking arm in arm enjoying the sunshine. When they began to head for the general population, Klaus felt a sadness growing in his gut knowing his coveted date was drawing to a close.

"Klaus, can I ask you something?" Klaus was pleasantly surprised when Caroline broke the silence.

"Of course," he murmured, nodding. "Ask whatever you want."

"Ok," Caroline breathed, trying to build up her courage to tackle what would most likely be an incredibly awkward conversation. "Do you remember my birthday?"

A reserved smile slid onto Klaus's lips as their pace slowed. "Yes."

Looking up at the sky, Caroline squinted into the sun's bright glare. "I wanted to ask you something about that."

"No need to beat around the bush, sweetheart," Klaus encouraged when Caroline looked as though she was choking on her words.

"Ok, but you can't laugh at me," Caroline said sternly.

Holding up his right hand, Klaus did his best to look innocent and trustworthy. "Cross my heart."

Giving him one last critical look, Caroline swallowed hard. "With the whole, vampire blood sharing thing," she whispered, leaning in closer to him as to not be overheard. "What specifically does that do?"

Squinting in confusion, Klaus looked over at Caroline. "It healed your hybrid bite," he muttered. "Why? Do you think it has done something else?"

"No," Caroline blurted out. "I mean, did it? You don't have some kind of vampire 'you owe me' voodoo hold on me now, do you? I don't owe you a life debt or something, right?"

Letting out an amused laugh, Klaus shook his head. "Perhaps letting you drink to excess was a poor idea." Looking her over once more, he gave a slight shake of his head when he saw she wasn't appeased. "If there is something specific you'd like to share, I'd be more than happy to help, but unfortunately I have yet to learn the art of mind reading."

"I just need to man up and say it, right?" Caroline mumbled, mostly to herself.

Amused at the expression, Klaus let out a chuckle. "Perhaps not too much of a transformation, love. I rather prefer you with your feminine charm and appeal."

"Ha-ha," Caroline sarcastically laughed, rolling her eyes. "Fine. I'll just say it. There are no other side effects of blood sharing, especially with an original, are there?" Klaus shook his head, a smirk on his face. "You wouldn't lie about it, would you? Because I am grateful you saved me, but ever since the night, things have been… different."

Halting them in their movement, Klaus turned to face her, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Consider my interest peeked. How are things different, Miss Forbes?"

Glancing over her shoulder to make sure they were still alone, she gave him a serious look. "I-I've been having strange dreams," she shared tentatively.

A wicked grin slid onto Klaus's face at her words. "I'm going to infer that since you're asking about blood sharing and that you're asking me, I have been present in these dreams."

"Oh please," Caroline scoffed, crossing her arms in defiance. "Not like that."

"Come on," Klaus's smile widened as he raised his eyebrows at her suggestively. "You just admitted to having dreams about me. How can you expect me not to jump to conclusions?"

"Whatever," she scowled. "It's not like that. It's just… I am having weird almost flashbacks to moments we've had together." Seeing Klaus get ideas in his head and his mouth open to comment, she quickly held up a finger to his lips. "Don't. Just don't start. I just told you that it's not like that. It starts on the night of my birthday and then goes to the night of your ball."

Klaus nodded, watching her intently. Gently he reached up and pulled Caroline's hand away from his lips. "So you are re-living moments spent with me. Very interesting. And you say this started the night of your birthday?"

Caroline nodded seriously. "I know you're not exactly known for your honesty, but what do you think? Is this… normal?"

"No, not in the least, but that's not to say that these dreams are unrelated to you drinking my blood," he murmured, giving her hand a small squeeze before stringing it back through his arm as he began walking again. "I know you don't have the highest opinion of me, Caroline, but I want you to know that I will never lie to you. Despite my age, I can't say I've heard much of side effects stemming from blood sharing, but I will do some digging and let you know if I find anything of value."

"Thank you," she whispered, smiling over at him. "You know, you're not so bad when you want to be. Why can't you be this person more often?"

A sad smile twitched at the corner of Klaus's lips as he stopped and faced Caroline. "I never answered your question earlier, about if I ever thought about being human. I did, once. I was on a trek in the Andes and a hummingbird flew up to me. It just hovered there, staring. Its tiny heart was pattering like a machine gun, and I thought, what a thing, you know? To have to work that hard every day just to stay alive, to be constantly on the verge of death, and how satisfying every day must be that it survived. That was the only time I thought about being human."

She watched him carefully as he relayed his personal story to her and tried to ignore the pull she was feeling on her heartstrings. Despite all the bad things he had done, all the lives he had taken; underneath all the plotting and selfishness, there was quite possibly the loneliest person she'd ever met, and it broke her heart.

Caroline's social strength lied in her intrapersonal skills, so she prided herself on her ability to read people. Klaus, however, was easily the most difficult person she'd ever come across. Everyone else was content with taking him at face value, labeling him a crazy, evil psycho and moving on, but there was something else there. Caroline had seen glimpses of it, and ever since then she found herself unable to forget it. There was a stifling sadness so deeply rooted within him that Caroline wanted to find out what had caused it. But for whatever reason, despite all the pain and mistrust, Klaus kept reaching out to her in an attempt to form a relationship of some kind, and Caroline could feel the walls of defense against him wearing down. He had no one besides his family, and they weren't the best group of people. No connections, no friends. He was desperate for a tie to the world, someone to have a connection with.

"Why are you so nice to me?" she questioned before she could stop herself. "Why me?"

"We've been over this, sweetheart," Klaus chuckled, his hands tucking themselves away in his pockets as he adopted a comfortable posture. "I think you are one of the most beautiful creatures I've ever beheld." When she gave him a disbelieving look, he let out an exasperated breath. "You're smart, independent, driven, kind, devoted to your friends and family… The list is endless and full of desirable attributes. I believe the question we should be asking is why would someone be anything but nice to you? And perhaps further still, why do you have such a hard time believing that you are desirable?"

"But I'm always rude to you," Caroline refuted disbelievingly.

"Yes, and at times you try my very limited patience." Smiling, Klaus stared off over the lake, watching the suns ray's dance across the surface of the water in the late afternoon light. "But your actions, more often than not, stem from your unwavering loyalty to those you love." Confidently, he reached his right hand out to brush the backs of his fingers across her cheek. "You are truly one of a kind, Caroline Forbes. Do not ever change."

Bringing Caroline's had up to his lips, Klaus gave the back of it a feather light kiss. "Thank you for the lovely afternoon, Caroline. It was one I will not soon forget." With that he gave a small bow, curt smile and made his way through the sea of tables towards the house.

Caroline watched him go from where she now stood alone by the lake. She knew there had to be a glitch in her brain to think there was something good in Klaus, but he was different around her. He showed her a side of him that no one else thought existed. What scared Caroline the most was that she knew she was starting to like him.

* * *

**AN2:** P.s. I don't really do song inspired fics and there really are a million songs that feel perfect for Klaus and Caroline, but the title of this story I stole from the Imagine Dragons song Bleeding Out (I don't own that or gain anything by saying that, etc.). If you haven't heard, I'd recommend you go give it a listen.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing having to do with The Vampire Diaries in any shape or form, nor do I have any fiscal stake in writing this story. It is purely for creative enjoyment. The only things I own are my original take on TVD universe and any original characters if I feel like adding some.

**Author's Note:** Short and sweet author's note. Here's chapter two well before the end of the day, as promised. No beta, so forgive any errors you may or may not find. Thank you for reading. Please review if you feel so inclined. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

By the time Caroline got home after all the pageant clean up was finished, it was after 11 p.m. Closing the front door behind her, she trudged into her room, kicking off her heals.

"Freedom," she breathed in relief, flopping back on her bed. Feeling something hard behind her head, Caroline reached up and pulled out a familiar small, black rectangular box. "Uh oh," she mumbled, pulling off the silk cream-colored ribbon. Opening the small piece of paper attached, her eyes gravitated to the signature she knew would be in the bottom right. "Dear Caroline, thank you again for spending time with me today. It was, truly, a moment in time I will cherish. This is a gift with no conditions except that you keep it. True beauty deserves to be celebrated. Fondly yours, Klaus," she read aloud.

Folding the note back up and sitting up, Caroline popped open the jewelry box to find the familiar diamond bracelet he had left her on her birthday. Sighing to herself, she admired it in all of its magnificence, carefully running her fingers along the length of it. "Why do you have to be so pretty?" she questioned, frowning down at the piece of jewelry.

A steady knock on the door drew Caroline out of her Klaus related thoughts and back to the present. She gently set down the box on her bedside table as she moved towards the door wondering who it could be at this late an hour.

"Stefan?" Caroline questioned, opening the door to find her vampire friend. "What are you doing here?"

"It's a long story," he muttered, holding up a bottle of whiskey. "Mind if I crash here tonight?"

"Not at all," she said, moving aside to let him pass. As Caroline followed Stefan into the living room, she remembered the piece of paper that was still folded up and clenched in her left hand.

* * *

Caroline watched as Stefan poured two shot glasses full of whiskey before quickly downing the one in front of him. "Are you going to tell me what's going on or am I just supposed to sit here and worry silently until I explode?" she asked, frowning over at Stefan with concern.

"Elena moved into my house," he mumbled, taking a second shot. "Matt is now living at the Gilbert's with Jeremy until we can get his vampire killing tendencies under control, she needed a place to stay, so of course it had to be mine."

"What?" Caroline hissed, slouching back in her chair by the fireplace. "She needed a place to stay so she shows up at the boarding house? Not that your house isn't great and you've got plenty of room, but why didn't she come to me? Why didn't she ask Bonnie? I mean, I didn't even know Jeremy was this bad until today," she mumbled sadly.

Shaking his head, Stefan let out a dark laugh as he filled up his glass again. "She's there for Damon, Caroline. Not me, not the house, Damon." Frowning down at the bottle of alcohol in front of him, Stefan let out a noise of frustration. "She told me to let her go tonight."

Caroline's jaw dropped open. "She what?"

"Yeah," he shrugged, downing another shot. "And you know, maybe she's right. I need to let go and just move on."

"No," Caroline said, shaking her head vehemently as she sat back up in her chair. "Come on, Stefan! You cannot give up on her."

Sitting back in the couch he was occupying, Stefan shrugged. "Caroline, she looked me in the eyes and told me to move on. What else am I supposed to do with that?"

"She's lost. She's confused," Caroline explained. "You are Elena's epic love, Stefan. Like Rose and Jack from freaking Titanic! There's got to be something wrong with her," she mumbled, her right hand closing tighter on the note from Klaus, guilt rising in her stomach. "Just- promise me you won't stop looking for the cure."

Stefan shook his head as he downed another shot and set his glass back on the coffee table. "Klaus won't let me even if I wanted to. He wants to make Elena human so he can use her blood to make more hybrids."

Sighing, Caroline leaned back in her seat to get more comfortable. "Well he's going to need them. Tyler almost has all of his current group un-sired." As the words left her mouth, Caroline opened her hand and stared down at the note. "Oh my God," she whispered, realization dawning on her. Sitting up, she locked eyes with an impatiently waiting Stefan. "Oh my God!"

"What, Caroline?" he questioned, leaning towards her. "What is it?"

Standing, Caroline held her hands up to her mouth in shock as her mind processed what she just stumbled upon. "This afternoon at Miss Mystic, Klaus listened to me talk about how Elena has been acting weird and all Damon obsessed since turning. He said I would figure it out and this is what he meant!"

"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked, not following.

"Think about it, Stefan," she said, pacing. "Every single time Elena has had a problem, Damon has magically been the solution. Like today, Elena was freaking out because no one could find Jeremy. I tried to calm her down but nothing worked. But Damon shows up, tells her to relax and she actually listened. When Elena started feeding, who said that she could only drink blood straight from the vein?"

Stefan sat in silence as he thought over Caroline's question. "Damon," he mumbled, starting to catch up.

"And when she tried to drink from animals?" Caroline asked, stopping to look at her vampire friend and mentor.

His hands coming to rest on his hips, Stefan frowned up at Caroline. "She couldn't keep it down."

"And blood bags?" Caroline pressed, nodding to herself.

"Same thing," he muttered, shaking his head in awe of what was right in front of him the whole time.

Caroline nodding, crossing her arms over her chest. "Name one vampire in the history of vampires who couldn't drink blood from a blood bag. Damon said she couldn't, so she couldn't!" Caroline's vigor was increasing with every connection she made. "Damon likes the red dress, Elena likes the red dress."

"Damon says kill Conner, she kills Conner," Stefan whispered to himself, his hand coming up to rub his chin in thought.

"Stefan, what if it's possible?" Caroline questioned seriously, not liking the reality of the situation her best friend was in. "Damon's blood made her a vampire, right? It's rare, but it happens. " Caroline breathed, gliding back into her chair. "What if this is really happening?"

Stefan flopped back into his chair, his eyes wide and full of fear. "Elena is sired to Damon," he mumbled, looking up to Caroline in shock.

"Elena is sired to Damon," Caroline repeated, staring back at her vampire mentor and close friend. "What do we do?"

"I wish I knew, Caroline," Stefan breathed, skipping the shot glass and just opting for the bottle as he took a long swig. "Do you think he knows?"

Caroline rolled her eyes, shaking her head in response. "I don't think so, but I guess you never know. While Damon is a sick manipulative bastard, I don't think he is smart enough to put these pieces together. Just look at how long it took us. Freaking Klaus," she grumbled angrily, wondering why he couldn't have just told her.

Stefan gazed into the fireplace absentmindedly as he tried to wrap his mind around everything going on. "No matter what we do, Klaus always beats us to the finish line, even in races we didn't know we were running. How is that even possible?" he asked, more to himself than Caroline. "He always knows the end results before they're even tallied."

Caroline's thoughts and eyes drifted to her closed left hand and it subconsciously opened to reveal the note Klaus had left her with the bracelet. In her mind, Caroline heard his voice; _small town boy, small town life… it won't be enough for you._ "What's that?"

Her eyes darting away from her hand, closing it instantly. Caroline tried her best to maintain composure. "What's what?"

"In your hand," Stefan said, pointing towards the one thing she was dreading telling him.

"Uh…" Caroline mumbled, deciding whether or not to show it to Stefan.

Raising an eyebrow at her inquisitively, Stefan gave her a playfully sour face. "Come on, Caroline. I tell you everything. I just told you the love of my life just moved in with my brother. It can't be worse than that."

Caroline quickly contemplated her options. She supposed if anyone was going to be sympathetic to her plight, it would be Stefan. "I supposed we have a little catching up to do," Caroline mumbled, uncurling her hand and holding the crumpled up note out for him to take. "Just... please don't make fun of me."

Eyeing her suspiciously, Stefan leaned forward in her chair and plucked it from her hand. Leaning back in her chair, Caroline nervously bit on her nails as she watched Stefan read the note, waiting for his response.

Caroline could tell he read through it several times before tossing it onto the coffee table, taking a drink and sitting back in his chair. "Stefan, please say something," Caroline begged, her nerves overflowing.

"Whoa," he finally breathed, blinking over at his closest friend. "I owe you an apology," Stefan mumbled, his eyes darting down to the note and back up to Caroline.

"Why?" Caroline asked, completely shocked at his words. That was not the reaction she was expecting.

Stefan shrugged, taking a swig of whiskey. "I guess I've been a little self absorbed lately. I mean, here I am dumping all my emotional Elena baggage on you and I never stop once to ask what you're dealing with." Capping the bottle, he sat back in his seat. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say this isn't out of the blue."

Shaking her head, Caroline rubbed her forehead. She could feel a Klaus-driven tension headache coming on. "Caroline, do you have feelings for him?"

"No," she said quickly, her knee jerk reaction, before sighing and shaking her head. "I mean, I don't know. Stefan, I can't have feelings for him. The man has been responsible for nothing but terrible things since he's rolled into town and we know he hasn't been an angel for the past 900 plus years. I love Tyler. I want to be with Tyler. He's a selfish monster, Stefan. I can't feel anything for him. It'd be wrong."

"That's half true, but he has done some un-selfish things too," Stefan commented. "I mean, he saved you on your birthday. He saved you from crazy Alaric at the school. He has helped us out on more than one occasion with things that have come up."

Caroline rolled her eyes at Stefan's comments. "You are aware that he caused most of those problems, right?"

Stefan narrowed his eyes as he smiled over at his friend. "Caroline, it's just you and me. You can be honest. Do you have feelings for Klaus?"

Taking a deep breath, Caroline's eyes drifted to the note on her coffee table, watching it as the shadows from the fire danced across its surface. "Feelings for him?" she murmured quietly, thinking back to that afternoon. "Yes," Caroline finally answered, looking up at Stefan. "Yes, I feel _something_ for Klaus other than disgust. I just wish I knew what it was. I know I sound like that stupid girl who tries to justify why she likes a crazy person to her friends, but he's different with me, Stefan. I don't know how and I don't know why, but he is."

Stefan said nothing, simply took another drink from the whiskey bottle in his hand and waited for her to continue. "He is kinder, with me. I know he's still a monster and he's done terrible, terrible things, but I've seen him be sweet and vulnerable. I saw him smile today, Stef. Not all that smirking, leering stuff he always does. Like really smile, and I'm telling you that there is something good in him."

Stefan studied Caroline's face and was shocked to find it so sure and unwavering. "How long has he been writing to you?"

"It's not like, love notes or something," Caroline chuckled quietly, looking down at her nails. "Every so often he just leaves one for me. The first was the night of my birthday."

"The night he healed you," Stefan nodded, remembering back to their conversation about how Klaus came and gave her his blood. Caroline had told everyone a generic 'he came, he gave me blood, he left' tale, but she had actually told Stefan the real story. He was the only one she had told until she shared it with Elena that morning, a decision she was now regretting. She had, however, failed to mention Klaus had been leaving her notes and gifts.

"I don't remember falling asleep, but when I woke up a note was on my nightstand." Caroline stood and swiftly walked from the room, fetching the bracelet, the birthday note, the horse drawing and the note he had included with her dress and invitation to his family's ball, returning and handing them all to Stefan except the drawing. "The bracelet was my birthday present, but I got pissed and threw it at him at his weird family ball because he was being pretentious. The other notes were with my invitation and a dress he sent over to my house. He left the bracelet here tonight with the note you already read."

Stefan took his time reading the other notes before finally cracking open the bracelet's box, his eyes widening at the sight. "Jesus Caroline," he whispered, bringing it closer to his face to inspect it in the low light. "This is really old," Stefan mumbled, his eyes leaving the bracelet to stare at the blonde vampire. "You sure snagged one hell of an admirer, I'll say that. This is probably worth a small fortune."

"He gave me some cheesy line," Caroline gave a small smile at the memory. "Something about it used to belong to a princess almost as beautiful as me."

Stefan let out a snort, closing the box and gently placing it on the table with the rest of Caroline's Klaus collection. "That is cheesy," he chuckled, shaking his head. "Who would've thought Klaus could be cheesy?"

"That's not it," Caroline said quietly, presenting the last item to Stefan who's brows furrowed together in confusion as he reached out and took the rolled up piece of paper.

"Thank you for your honesty," he read allowed, unrolling it and letting out a whistle as he took in the drawing. "Wow. I knew he liked you, but he's got it bad."

Frowning, Caroline felt guilt rising up in her belly. "I didn't ask for this, Stef."

"I know," he nodded, setting the picture and last note down. "That is good though, I'll give him that. Klaus is an artist… I guess it fits, if you think about it. Lots of time on his hands, no girlfriend, always alone," Stefan added, a small smile breaking across his face. "Art is kind of an emo kid hobby, and Klaus is pretty emo."

"Stefan, don't make fun of it," Caroline grumbled self-consciously, leaning forward to collect her Klaus things and scurry them back to the safety of her room.

"Oh, come on Care," Stefan called after her. "I didn't mean it like that. I was just making a joke. I mean, him being a weird, introverted, lovesick artist is at the bottom of my list of reasons why he's strange."

Coming back into the room, Caroline flopped back into her chair by the fire. "You said you weren't going to make fun of me."

"I never said that," Stefan clarified, giving her a small smile. "Honestly, I get it," he said, shrugging as he took another swig from his bottle.

"You get it…" Caroline mumbled, her brows furrowing in confusion. "You get what?"

Leaning forward, Stefan poured the last of the bottle into his shot glass. "I get what Klaus sees in you. It's why I love Elena so much." Pausing, he gave Caroline a sorrowful smile. "As much as I hate to admit it, there was a time I was just as bad as Klaus, if not worse. They didn't call me Ripper for nothing, Care."

"But you changed," Caroline reasoned, scooting forward in her seat. "You aren't like that anymore. You're nothing like Klaus."

"Wrong," Stefan said, shaking his head. "I will always be like that. It is a part of me, Caroline. I will always have to monitor myself. I will always have to resist the urges to rip people's throats out and everyone I murdered will be on my conscience for the rest of my existence." Pausing to take a long drink, Stefan took a deep breath before continuing. "I had Lexi. I had Elena. I have you and even Damon. I've always had people to check me, Caroline. There was always someone around who cared enough to bring me back, to help me. Klaus has never had that and the closest he comes is his dysfunctional family."

"But-" Caroline tired to come up with something to say to that, but she couldn't.

"Klaus has always had to watch his back himself. Hell, his own father hated him and hunted him his entire life. The only way he could stop that was to kill him," Stefan laughed, shaking his head. "As big and as bad as he is, the poor guy has been betrayed more times than all of us put together by a long shot. It's no wonder he's so screwed up."

The pair sat in silence as Caroline contemplated Stefan's words. "Wow," Caroline said finally, feeling worse. "You're so right. As many people as we've lost, I still have you, my mom, Elena, Bonnie, Matt, Tyler-"

"Speaking of Tyler…" Stefan murmured, raising an eyebrow questioningly at Caroline.

"Ugh," she groaned, shaking her head. "I can't even think about him right now. I mean, did you see him today with Hayley? They were holding hands and drinking champagne. Gag me."

Shrugging to himself, Stefan downed the rest of his drink and set the empty glass on the table. "Well, I'm going to go take a shower," Stefan mumbled, stretching out his back. "Thanks for letting me crash, Care. You're the best."

Standing herself, Caroline hugged Stefan. "Any time. There are towels in the hall closet and fresh bars of soup in the cupboard in the bathroom."

"Thanks," Stefan smiled, turning and heading for the upstairs.

Slowly walking into her room, Caroline's eyes drifted to where her Klaus notes and gifts sat atop her dresser. Sighing, she moved through her room to her on suite bathroom to shower herself.

* * *

Hunched over in his favorite chair by the fireplace in his studio, Klaus rubbed his beard stubble in thought as he closed yet another internet tab. His research into blood sharing was coming up with very little that he didn't already know. Apart from it being a pleasurable experience for both parties, there were no real mentions of lasting effects, at least none that would span such a long period of time.

Sitting back in his chair, Klaus reached beside him to grab his tumbler of bourbon, taking a sip. Perhaps Caroline was right. Maybe it had something to do with the fact he was an Original. He had never shared as much as she had taken that night with anyone and no one had ever drank straight from the vein, so there was no previous cases to compare this to.

Sighing, Klaus closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead in frustration. Caroline Forbes had been haunting him since he first moved back to this pathetic excuse for a town. Even in sleep he could not escape her, revisiting brief moments in time they had spent together. It gave him some small amount of pleasure to know that she now had nightly visits from him in her dreams as well.

No matter what he did, she was unwavering in her decision to deny him. In all of his thousand years of existence, Klaus had only put more effort into two things; avoiding Mikael and breaking the sun and the moon curse. Certainly he had never wasted his time, effort and money on such a trivial thing as another person's affection. It was absurd to even think about, yet here he was, chasing after a baby vampire in Mystic Falls like a lovesick adolescent.

Klaus looked away from the soft glow of his computer screen to the flames in his fireplace as they danced in the darkness. All his life he had secretly longed for companionship but never found a sliver what he had been looking for. Initially he dismissed Caroline with all the rest as just a pretty face, but she continuously surprised him. She was beautiful, to be sure, but he had lived a thousand years and seen countless famed beauties. Once he spent some time around her, talked to her, Klaus saw her fire and he couldn't look away. Her spirit mesmerized him.

She was smart, funny, quick witted, driven… a perfectly well rounded woman in every way. What really caught his attention and unshakable admiration was her loyalty. Caroline Forbes was the most loyal person he had ever seen. She fought with everything she had for her friends and family and would give anything to keep them safe. That kind of passion and dedication made her the rarest form of beauty to him. Of course it didn't hurt that she was stunning on top of all that.

Thinking back to that afternoon, he couldn't help but smile. It could have been an act, but he was certain it wasn't. Caroline had unknowingly given him one of the best days of his life. It was so carefree and enjoyable, so much so that he even had let his guard down and shared things with her that he had never told another soul. Caroline's light was so powerful that it was able to breech the thick darkness that had encased his heart for a thousand years, and the thought shook him to his core.

"Caroline Forbes," he breathed quietly, his glass coming to rest beside his head as he continued to gaze mindlessly into the fire. "What have you done to me?"

* * *

"_Caroline?" _

"_Oh no," Caroline breathed, opening her eyelids to her head pounding and her body on fire. "Not again."_

"_How are you feeling, love?" Klaus asked as he approached her bed, carefully perching on it beside her._

_Coughing, Caroline tried to pull herself into a setting position but faltered, Klaus reaching out to steady her. "Easy," he breathed quietly, holding her up as he propped up pillows behind her before carefully leaning her back onto them. Gently he reached a hand up to brush strands of hair off of her sweat-covered brow. "You're burning up."_

"_I am so cold," she murmured, shivering and grabbing for the covers._

_Watching her with regret covering his face, Klaus helped her pull her quilt up to her neck, tucking it around her body. While his hands where near her neck, he pulled back the edge of the blankets and grimaced at the festering werewolf bite. "That looks quite bad," he commented, carefully drawing his hand back to rest on his knee. _

"_Well that's why you came, isn't it?" Caroline groaned, grasping her side as pain shot through it. "You know, you're not as evil as you want people to think you are."_

_Taken aback by her words, Klaus's jaw clenched in tension. "You must be very ill indeed to be saying nonsense like that, sweetheart."_

"_It's my birthday, so you have to be nice to me," Caroline murmured, squinting through the fogginess that was clouding her vision. _

"_Very true, love," Klaus chuckled, smiling fondly at her. "Forgive me."_

"_And since it is my birthday, I get three wishes," Caroline said, her breathing heavy._

_Giving her an amused look, Klaus reached out and gently pulled her right hand from under the covers and into both of his. "I've always loved birthdays, you know."_

_Ignoring his birthday comment, Caroline glanced down at where her hand was now being held by his. _"_I can't believe how you make me feel," she muttered, relishing in the warm and fuzzy feelings she was getting from the small amount of physical contact with him._

_Blinking over at her in confusion, Klaus scooted forward closer to her. "How do I make you feel, Caroline?"_

"_Honestly?" Caroline murmured. "You make me feel special."_

"_Special?" he repeated the word with a sense of wonder._

_Before Caroline could reply, she was feeling fine and in her dress from the night of the ball. Taking in her surroundings, Caroline discovered she was in Klaus's private art gallery once more. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that she was alone. Biting her lip, Caroline slowly made her way around the room, looking at each and every painting carefully before stopping in front of a large landscape. It was light, airy and showed off a beautiful and unfamiliar landscape._

"_It's the view from my house in Tuscany." Sparing a glance over her shoulder, Caroline saw Klaus approaching, his hands folded behind his back in his familiar way. "Do you like it?"_

_Caroline turned back to study the painting as he came to a stop beside her. "The painting or the view?" she asked._

"_Both, I suppose," he said, a smile evident in his voice._

"_They're lovely," Caroline admitted, her eyes scanning every inch of the painting. "You really are talented, Klaus."_

"_You're too kind. I'm no Rembrandt, but I do enjoy it," he commented absentmindedly as he shuffled around some sketches on top of his desk. "Do you have a favorite painter, Caroline?"_

_Caroline laughed, at the thought that crossed her mind closing her eyes and shaking her head. "You know, I always liked-" _

_Soft violin music drew her eyes open and suddenly she was standing amongst the tables at the Miss Mystic pageant. "Trippy," she mumbled as she watched an elderly couple pass her._

"_Caroline, there you are." Sighing, she turned to an approaching Klaus, knowing that they would now be going through the motions of this day as well. "What's the matter, love?" he asked, seeing that her mood had suffered since he'd last seen her._

"_Nothing, I'm just dreaming about this day now too," she grumbled, reaching out to swipe a appetizer off one of the server's trays as they passed. "Well, at least the food is still good," Caroline commented, her mouth full of crab cake._

_Giving her a confused look, Klaus's hands found their way into the pockets of his pants. "What do you mean, you're dreaming about this day now too?"_

"_This is a dream," she said, swallowing her mouthful of food before continuing. "Remember how- no, I suppose you wouldn't. Well I told you yesterday that I was having dreams."_

"_Yes," Klaus said, a small smile twitching at the corners of his lips. "I remember."_

"_I haven't gotten to it yet here, but- wait, what?" Caroline said, stopping short in her rant when Klaus said he remembered a conversation they hadn't had. "How do you know that when I haven't told you yet?"_

_Rolling his eyes, Klaus shook his head. "Caroline, darling, you are a figment of my imagination."_

"_Uh, no," she hissed, annoyed. "You're one of mine. This is my dream, remember?"_

_Klaus shrugged, removing his hands from his pockets. "Color me disappointed, then."_

"_What?" Caroline asked. "Why?"_

"_Well, if this is a dream, perhaps I can make the most of it," Klaus grumbled, ignoring her question completely as he removed his hands from his pockets._

_Turning on his heel, Klaus began winding his way through the throngs of people, his head on swivel as he looked for something. "Klaus, what are you doing?" Caroline hissed, following him. This dream was different. Something was off. Whenever her dreams would stray from what actually happened, it was because of something she said or did; a change in conversation or a different turn of events. But this was all new and Klaus was altering the dream memory, not her. "Klaus!" she whisper-yelled as she did her best to catch up with him in the crowd all while wearing heels._

"_Ah, there he is," Klaus said merrily, skipping up the steps of the house to a small section of tall tables where Tyler stood with Hayley. "Good afternoon," he greeted happily, coming to a stop in front of them. "Enjoying the day on your little… whatever this is?" he asked, making a mocking facial expression as he gestured between the pair._

"_What do you want, Klaus?" Tyler growled, turning to face the Original hybrid._

"_Klaus!" Caroline called, her heels clicking on the stone as she jogged over to the small group. "What in God's name are you doing?"_

"_I am going to rip Tyler Lockwood's bloody, beating heart from his chest and fling it across the lawn," Klaus said casually as if he had just commented on the weather._

_Letting out a throaty growl, Tyler's hands clenched into fists at his sides. "Caroline, get away from him. I'm going to end this once and for all," he said, his voice warning._

_Shooting him an annoyed glare, Caroline ignored him turning back to her dream date. "Seriously? You can't be doing this!" Caroline hissed, her eyes darting to a few of the judges as they passed. "Hi, how's it going?" she asked off handedly, her winning smile plastered on her face before it instantly fell, turning back to the problem at hand._

"_I can, and I am going to," Klaus said, his face still as light and content as it had been all day. "If I am going to be wasting my time in a dream that doesn't involving ravishing you, my next past time of choice is dismembering the Lockwood boy."_

_Blinking at his words, Caroline acted quickly and slid herself in between Klaus and Tyler. "Tyler, go," she ordered, her hands firmly pressed into Klaus's chest._

"_But-"_

"_I said go," Caroline interrupted, not giving him a chance to argue. This was her dream, damn it, and she was going to start taking control of it. "As for you," she said, turning her attention back to the Original in front of her. "How are you doing this?"_

_Angrily watching Tyler and the were-bitch walking away, Klaus reluctantly gave up, looking down at Caroline. "Doing what, exactly?"_

"_Changing my dream," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world._

_Klaus opened his mouth to inform her that she was mistaken when a dull ringing sound started. "What the bloody hell is that?" he asked, looking up into the sky, wincing, as it grew louder._

_When he didn't get an answer, he turned to see Caroline was gone, and subsequently all the other party guests. "What the hell is going on," he muttered, the whole landscape before him turning black._

* * *

Groaning, Caroline hit the snooze button on her alarm as she snuggled deeper under her covers. After a few moments of drowsiness wore off, her eyes snapped open in shock. "No," she whispered in shock. "No, no, no, no!"

* * *

From his place in his giant bed, Klaus Mikaelson shot up into a sitting position, clutching his chest as he found himself gasping for air. Continuing to take deep breaths, Klaus's eyes darted around to take in his surroundings. He was awake and in his own room, in his own house. Letting out a sigh of relief, he leaned back against his headboard, wiping away the beads of sweat from his forehead as he contemplated what had just happened.

After going it over multiple times, he pinched himself in an attempt to make sure he wasn't still asleep. Sliding from under the covers, Klaus walked into his bathroom and turned on the cold water in the sink. Leaning down, he splashed a few handfuls over his face, continuing to breath deeply as he stood with his hands braced on the countertop. Looking up into the mirror, he studied his face, watching as the small water droplets ran over its surfaces.

"Did I just wander into Caroline Forbes dream?" he asked his reflection, both excited and horrified at the reality of what his question could mean.

* * *

Caroline sat in her room for hours trying to come up with a logical explanation for the difference in her dream last night. When she couldn't, Caroline quickly got dressed and walked out into the living room where Stefan lay sprawled out, still fast asleep on the couch. Biting her lip in agitation, Caroline glanced down at her watch, then back at Stefan. Deciding she didn't want to wake him, she exited the room and went down the hall to the kitchen.

Pouring herself a glass of blood from one of her blood bags, Caroline frowned down at the dark red liquid. Sliding into a seat at her kitchen table, she couldn't help but feel like the smiling teddy bear holding balloons on her world's best mom mug was judging her.

"Saved by the text," she murmured, reaching for her phone as she brought the mug up to her lips, taking a sip.

She had a couple missed texts from Tyler, one from Elena, one from Bonnie and one from an unknown number.

**Glad to see you had a nice time with your new boyfriend.** First text from Tyler received at 1:12 a.m. "Someone got hammered," Caroline whispered, scrolling down to read the second. **Ok, I didn't mean that. I'm just angry and I miss you on top of being crazy jealous that Klaus gets to spend time with you when I can't. I'll be pretty busy tomorrow un-siring hybrids, but maybe we can meet up for a little? I'll text you.**

Sighing, Caroline didn't respond, going back out and reading Bonnie's text just asking what she had been up to lately and Elena's mentioning a possible girls night. "Girls night. Now that is something I can get behind," Caroline said, smiling as she typed her response.

**Girls night? Count me in!**

**-C**

Next she turned her attention to the text that probably was accidental from her unknown number. Opening it, she instantly recognized the area code. It was Mystic Falls, so maybe it was someone she knew. "I think we need to talk," she said, reading the text out loud. "I think we need to talk?" she repeated, her brow furrowing as she tried to place the number.

**Who is this?**

**-C**

Typing out her response and hitting send, Caroline tapped her fingers in agitation as she waited for a reply. It didn't take long before Caroline saw a new message bubble pop up on her screen. "It's Klaus," she read, freezing as her eyes widened at the text. "How the hell did you get my number?" Caroline hissed, frowning down at the two-word text message.

Within seconds a second text bubble popped into her screen and she opened it without hesitation.

**Meet me at The Grill at noon. I'll be at the bar.**

"Of course you will," Caroline grumbled, locking the screen and pushing the phone away from her across the tabletop. Deciding she couldn't wait for nature to take it's course, Caroline stood from the table, grabbing her cup of blood and marching into the living room. "Stefan, wake up," she hissed, poking him in the side.

"Ouch," he groaned, squinting up at her in the late morning light. "Caroline, what the hell?" Stefan whined, pulling a pillow over his head.

"No. No way!" Caroline said, setting her mug down before pulling the pillow off of Stefan and tossing it across the room. "You need to wake up right now. It's an emergency."

Sighing, Stefan slowly slid his legs off the side of the couch and swiveled his body into a sitting position. His eyes were slants and his hair was a complete mess. Stefan Salvatore was hung over. "Ok, I'm up," he groaned, running his hand over his tired face. "What is this emergency? And there better actually be one, or I might kill you."

"I think Klaus was in my dream last night," Caroline blurted out, not wanting to waste any time.

"Seriously, Care?" Stefan asked, flopping back against the plush surface of the couch. "You already told me this. He's been monopolizing your dreams for weeks. I get it, it's creepy, but you did not need to wake me up at 7 a.m. to rehash this."

Glaring over at her vampire mentor, Caroline crossed her arms angrily over her chest. "First off, it's 11:05. Second, I get you're hung over, but lose the attitude. Third, this is like, code red over here. I did not mean I had another Klaus dream, I meant Klaus, like actual Original hybrid from the real world of awake people, super pushy, egocentric Klaus _was_ in my dream last night!"

Stefan frowned back at her for a few minutes in silence. "It's only 11?" he finally asked, standing and moving towards the kitchen.

"Stefan!" Caroline shrieked, following him through the hallway. "Klaus was in my dream last night. He was controlling my dream!"

"Caroline," Stefan groaned as he opened and began rummaging through her refrigerator. "You don't have to yell. I'm two feet away."

"This is serious," she hissed, leaning towards him with wide eyes. "My usual dream Klaus is super unaware and just happily floats through the motions of the memory, but last night Klaus was there and he remembered stuff that I hadn't told him yet and he was going to kill dream Tyler. This was not the same Klaus it has been."

"So you think that somehow Klaus was able to infiltrate your mind?" Stefan questioned, closing the fridge door and tossing his blood bag into the counter before he sat down. "Are you sure you aren't just being a little paranoid about all this?"

Caroline raised an eyebrow challengingly at him, pursing her lips in frustration. "No, I'm not. Look, he texted me this morning."

Popping open the top of the blood bag, Stefan took a sip. "Klaus texted you this morning?"

"Yes!" Caroline hissed, grabbing her phone, opening the messages and handing the device over to Stefan.

She watched Stefan's face carefully as he read through the brief exchange before setting the cell phone down, shrugging. "Doesn't seem too out of the ordinary to me."

"Stefan," Caroline whined, letting her head fall back in frustration. "He wants to meet me today to talk. Come on," she breathed, giving him a disbelieving look. "I think we need to talk," she mumbled. "Totally ominous and creepy."

"Just meet him for lunch and see what he wants," Stefan said calmly. "It's a public place and the worst that can happen is you get a free meal out of it while Klaus obsesses over you some more."

"Ok, fine," she sighed, shaking her head at what she had just agreed to. Stefan was right though. The worst that could happen is she'd just have a normal conversation with him, and those were never too terrible, right? "So next order of 'what the hell are we going to do about this crisis' business," Caroline said, clapping her hands together in front of her face.

Standing and raising an eyebrow at his blonde friend, Stefan moved to open the pantry. "Oh yeah? What's that?"

Her jaw going slack, Caroline stared at him as if he was growing a second head. "Uh, hello? Elena is sired to Damon. If that is not meriting a crisis-level distinction, we seriously need to talk about our classification of statuses."

Rolling his eyes, Stefan poured himself a bowl of Captain Crunch and took a big spoonful. "Listen Care, as much as I love this whole 'Super Friends' duo where we solve problems and stuff, I think you're overreacting," he grumbled through his mouthful of Captain Crunch. "We aren't even sure if that's what it is."

"Are you nuts?" Caroline hissed, throwing her hands into the air dramatically. "That's exactly what it is! I thought we were on the same page last night."

"Overreacting," Stefan mumbled.

Scoffing, Caroline pushed herself off the counter to stand in front of Stefan as he continued to shovel cereal into his mouth. "Again, are you nuts? Elena is sired to your whack job of a brother. No offense," she added for good measure. "But we need to save her, no, we have to save her, Stefan! The only thing she is going to want to do is please Damon, just like with Klaus and his hybrids."

"No," Stefan argued, shaking his head. "A vampire being sired to another vampire is one in a million. She might not even be affected."

"Seriously, Stef?" Caroline challenged, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly. "I get that you don't want to believe this, but we already know she's affected. She's his freaking lap dog." When Stefan still looked like he was going to disagree, she narrowed her eyes at him. "You know I'm right. Everything he says, she agrees with. She does everything he tells her to."

"If you're right," Stefan said, releasing his spoon into his bowl with a clink, "that means every emotion she has had, every feeling, every impulse could have stemmed from her sire bond since she became a vampire."

"This is so messed up," she breathed, feeling sick to her stomach for the second time that morning alone.

Stefan nodded in agreement. "Speaking of messed up, shouldn't you be in school?"

"Yeah, about that," Caroline laughed, shrugging. "I have pretty easy classes and I have it on good authority that regular attendance senior year is more of a guideline than a requirement."

"Whatever, skipper," Stefan mumbled, smiling at her as he resumed eating his cereal. "It doesn't matter if I'm there or not. I've already graduated like fifteen times."

"So…" she said, leaning forward and tilting her head to the side. "What's the plan, boss man? Where do we start? What can I do to help?"

"You can go to your date with Klaus and I can go talk to Damon." Stefan stood, walking his dishes over to the sink and began washing them. "While you two are chatting about your possible dream connection, maybe grill him on the sire bond. Couldn't hurt to find out what he knows."

"Damon?" Caroline questioned, watching him carefully. "Do you think that's a good idea to hand him over this?"

Stefan shrugged as he placed the now clean dishes into the drainer. "He has the right to know. Besides, he might be able to help."

"If you say so." Caroline sighed as she looked down at her phone. It was already 11:40. "I should probably head to the Grill."

"Tell Klaus I say hi," Stefan smirked, ducking as Caroline tossed a potholder at his head.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing having to do with The Vampire Diaries in any shape or form, nor do I have any fiscal stake in writing this story. It is purely for creative enjoyment. The only things I own are my original take on TVD universe and any original characters if I feel like adding some.

**Author's** **Note:** So here's chapter three. Got some good Klaus/Caroline moments in this one, so be excited. Posted it a bit sooner than I expected, but like I said I already had it written so I just needed to edit and such and a slow day at work translated into another chapter to upload.

Updates will be slower from here on out. My goal is to have a new chapter every week/week in a half but obviously I can't promise anything. Here's chapter three. Please review, if you feel so inclined. I like to know what you are thinking, if you are liking it, etc. So share your thoughts if you have the time, they're greatly appreciated. Nothing's worse than seeing hundreds of people have read your story and only a few people have left comments. To those of you who have shared your opinions and thoughts, thank you very, very much. :)

As always, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy.

* * *

Klaus was a fan of punctuality, but he had taken it to a whole new level today by getting to the Grill at 11:15. He hadn't gotten a response from Caroline, but he knew she would come. If she had half an inkling that he did upon waking this morning, he had no doubt she would be there.

Finishing his fifth glass of whiskey, he flagged down the bartender who quickly brought him another. "To the perks of being the only person drinking before noon on a weekday," he shared quietly, raising the glass and tipping his head towards the man who had already scurried away.

Klaus was not paying exceptionally close attention to the arrivals and departures, but somehow he knew when Caroline was near. He hadn't smelled her, he had felt her presence, and that made Klaus just as anxious as the idea of being able to enter her dreams. "Well… that's new," he mumbled, swiveling around on his stool to gracefully stand and meet her halfway as she entered the Grill.

"Caroline," Klaus greeted curly, trying his best to not let her presence excite him. "Shall we find a quiet place to sit?" he suggested, gesturing to an unoccupied section of the Grill.

"Probably," Caroline murmured, turning on her heal and walking over to the furthest, most secluded booth in the place. Sliding in, she tossed her purse onto the bench beside her and folded her hands into her lap. "So..."

Klaus silently studied Caroline, relishing the way the low lighting perfectly highlighted and showcased her exquisiteness as he mentally compiled a list of new sketches he wanted to do. He didn't know how her beauty could still amaze him, but Klaus found himself stunned every time he saw her. "No reason to be nervous, love. Just here to have a little chat, that's all."

Rolling her eyes, Caroline's mood shifted to one of aggravation. "I didn't come here to just be social, Klaus. Your text implied that it was something important."

"Did you want to place an order for some food?" Klaus asked, ignoring her directness as he gestured over his shoulder to the bar. "Perhaps something to drink?"

"No," Caroline answered quickly, her stomach in knots. "Can we just cut the crap and just get down to it, please? I have a lot on my plate right now that I need to deal with and I don't have time to play question dodging."

His face calm and a void of emotions, Klaus nodded. "As you wish."

When he didn't immediately start talking, Caroline tapped her fingernails on the top of the table in annoyance. "Klaus, are you seriously going to make me ask you again, because if you called me here to play games I'll just-"

"Oh settle down, sweetheart," he grumbled, taking a sip of his drink. "You know why we are here, but then again to assume would be rude of me. Personally, I had a very odd dream last night," Klaus said quietly, his eyes locked on Caroline's. "It was the strangest thing because I felt as if I were having an out of body experience. Perhaps out of mind experience would be more accurate..."

"You're seriously telling me-"

"That I was present in your dream last night?" Klaus finished, his head tilting to the side in thought. "Yes, I believe I am. But like I said, I think you already knew that."

Letting out a huff, Caroline refused to look away from him as she contemplated how best to take his confirmation. On one hand it was good because she knew she wasn't crazy. On the other, this was a whole other level of bad news. "And you expect me to believe that you had nothing to do with it? You just randomly went to sleep and woke up in my head?"

Amused, Klaus chuckled to himself as he took a sip of his drink. "Are you inferring that I somehow mastered not only my subconscious but yours as well?" When Caroline nodded and crossed her arms over her chest, he laughed again, shaking his head. "What happened to the Caroline I spoke to yesterday who confided in me and asked for my help? I thought we were finally getting somewhere, but not even twenty-four hours later and I'm back to the black hearted villain, am I?"

"Oh give me a break, Klaus," Caroline grumbled, narrowing her eyes over at him. "Don't try to pull a wounded act with me. I'm not buying it."

"That's fine, because I'm not selling anything," Klaus growled as he eyed her angrily. "Is it really so hard to believe that I have feelings, Caroline, or do you and your friends have a monopoly on that as well?" he questioned, his voice accusatory.

Caroline felt a slight lurch in her stomach as she stared into his eyes. "What is that? What are you doing?" she whispered uneasily, her eyes wide and uncertain.

Klaus blinked in confusion as he felt a slight pang of nervousness somewhere in the back of brain. "Nothing. What are you doing?" he muttered angrily. Whatever he was feeling was not generated by himself.

"Nothing!" Caroline hissed. "What do you mean, what I am doing? You just made me feel-" Caroline paused, squinting at thin air as she tired to place the feeling she just had. "Disappointed... and hurt," she identified. "Klaus, you made me feel disappointed!"

Horrified, Klaus did his best to keep his face neutral as his mind raced over the possibilities of what they were caught up in. He could sense Caroline's presence before he saw or smelled her. He could feel Caroline's emotions and somehow he was projecting his off onto her as well. With detecting her emotions, he was able to distinguish that they were not his, but more like ripples that were generated by her and reverberating in his mind. Klaus wondered how well Caroline was able to interpret his emotions.

Taking a quick glance around, Klaus leaned in, his eyes narrowed in seriousness. "Listen closely, Caroline, because I am not in the mood to be lied to and I have a suspicion that I will know if you try. Do you have knowledge of or are you privy to any type of ridiculous plan, plot or scheme hosted by your idiotic troop of misfits that would explain what is happening here?" he questioned as he gestured between them both.

"No," she murmured quietly, shaking her head.

Nodding in affirmation, Klaus leaned back against the seat, slouching a bit. "That's good news for your friends but rather troubling news for us."

"What does this mean?" Caroline asked nervously. "Is this permanent? What's everyone going to say? What will they think? Oh God, Tyler," she breathed, her head falling into her hands sadly. "He's going to be so pissed."

Rolling his eyes, Klaus took a large gulp of his drink, appreciating the burn of good whiskey as it slid down his throat while he watched the blonde in front of him begin to panic. "Caroline," he said quietly, gaining her attention, "your friends are not going to care."

Caroline snorted out a shot laugh and shot him a disbelieving look. "Right, ok. Since you're pretty unfamiliar with the whole friend concept, let me give you some valuable insider information. My friends are going to flip their shit when they find out that somehow I am linked to our enemy, being you."

"Enemy?" he chuckled, clearly amused again. "How old are they, ten? Did I steal Elena's favorite toy? Perhaps I cut Stefan in the juice box line?"

"How about you keep doing terrible things, everyday," Caroline challenged, not enjoying Klaus's playful behavior. "Or maybe it's how you tried to drain Elena dry so you can continue to make more weird hybrids? No, not good enough for you?" she hissed, sitting up straighter. "Maybe the time that you killed Jenna or-"

"Re-hashing the past is pointless at this point, love," he sighed, back to being unfriendly. "Let's try focusing our energies in the here and now. In case you haven't noticed, we seem to have a rather sticky situation on our hands. There's no need to drag skeletons out of the closet."

"I'm making a point," she scowled.

"Being?" Klaus growled, annoyed with the turn their conversation had taken.

"Being that my friends hate you," Caroline hissed. "And no one can really blame them."

Klaus heard the hostility of Caroline's words, but he didn't feel them. Something was missing from her declaration and it was conviction. "You don't though, do you?" he questioned, sitting up straighter as a cocky grin slid onto his face. "Couldn't help but notice that you weren't included in that statement, sweetheart."

"What?" Caroline questioned, caught off guard.

"You said 'my friends hate you', not 'we hate you'," Klaus smiled merrily, his eyes searching her face with glee as she saw a blush slip onto her cheeks.

Blinking in confusion, Caroline stumbled over her rebuttal. "I- of course I do. I mean, am," she said, closing her eyes and shaking her head to try and clear the cloud of confusion that was interfering with her thoughts. "Klaus, ugh! You are so frustrating right now!"

"The feeling is mutual, I assure you," he murmured into his glass as he took another sip, frowning as he neared the bottom of his whiskey. "But enough about our mutual interest in each other."

"I don't-" Caroline stated but Klaus interrupted, ignoring her.

"Time to hammer out a few important details," he said, his face serious but not dark. "Whatever is going on between us, this link- we need to keep it just that; between us. No sharing with Glinda or Stefan, especially not Elena. It's probably best you don't tell her anything you wouldn't tell Damon."

"So everything," Caroline grumbled, frowning at the thought that she no longer could trust Elena with her secrets for fear of Damon knowing everything she says. "Why can't I tell Stefan? We tell each other everything and I thought you two were reasonably friendish."

"First of all, friendish is not a word. Second, you all gossip more than old biddies at Bingo games. Once one of you knows something, you all do within minutes. Lastly, we don't even know what this is, the extent of our new found connection or how long it might last, so let's not get over zealous and share because I doubt they'd find it interesting."

"Oh no," Caroline groaned, her head dropping to the table top at the mention of the unknown length of their bond. "This can't be for a long time, can it?" she questioned hopefully, her head shooting up at the thought.

Klaus rubbed his eyes in frustration. Setting his drink down, he folded his hands in front of him as he stared at her pensively. "I know as little as you do, sweetheart."

Caroline took a deep breath as her smile faded into a look of nervousness. "What are we going to do?" she finally asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Watching her face, Klaus could feel her anxiety rolling off her in waves and it threatened to turn his stomach. Sighing, he clenched his jaw in agitation as he reached out and scooped up her left hand with his right. "Caroline, I know you're not as fond of me as I am you-" seeing a small smile twitch on her lips, he relaxed slightly as his thumb gently ran over the top of her hand, "but we are together in this and you are going to have to trust me."

"And not tell anyone," she repeated, still not looking completely convinced.

"Trust me, sweetheart," he repeated beseechingly. "Is it really that hard?"

"Yes." Caroline let out a short laugh, slipping her hand from his. "How do you expect me to trust you when you don't trust anyone. It's so typical Klaus," she huffed, rolling her eyes.

Exasperated, Klaus crossed his arms over his chest as he sat back against the booth back. "I wasn't aware I was becoming predictable. Perhaps I need to go back to being more radical with my decision making process."

"No, see! That's your problem right there!" Caroline smirked, pointing her finger at him. "You march around in your big bad hybrid pants and bark out orders, telling everyone else what they have to do-"

"Sounds about right," Klaus murmured to himself, not seeing a problem with her assessment.

"-and you expect everything you want from other people but you don't want to actually do anything yourself." Frowning, Caroline narrowed her eyes over at him waiting for a response. "Well?"

"Well what?" he growled.

A smile twitching on her lips, Caroline stared him down. "You're doing it right now. You know I'm right so you're shutting down, getting angry and in a minute you're going to yell at me to try and intimidate me." Letting out a noise of frustration, Klaus glared out into the empty surrounding section of the restaurant. "Admit it. You want me to trust you, but you don't trust me."

"Can you blame me, Caroline?" Klaus asked, raising an eyebrow challengingly. "After all the times you played 'distract Klaus', how can you honestly expect my trust? Every time you speak to me I have to try and figure out which one of your friends sent you."

Rolling her eyes dramatically, Caroline shook her head. "Oh come on, you don't trust anyone and you know it! Maybe, just maybe, if you treated other people with the same respect you demand and gave a little you would have people around you could depend on instead of everyone stabbing you in the back all the time!"

As soon as the words came out, Caroline regretted them. Not only because she could feel that Klaus was hurt by her words, but because they were wrong to say. She was wrong to say them. No matter how much he deserved a bucket of cold water reality dumped on his head, that was not the way to do it. "Klaus, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"No, you shouldn't have," Klaus said, his voice frigid and his eyes sharp as steel. "You will tell no one about the dreams and you most certainly will not tell anyone about the bond. You will keep your lovely mouth shut lest it get you into trouble. Have I made myself clear?"

Caroline glared across the table at the Original, all past feelings of remorse over her emotional low-blow gone. "Just who do you think you are? You can't just-"

"I can and I will," he said assertively, leaning in and pointing into the surface of the table. "In fact, I just did. I don't know how you've managed to distract me so easily in the past, but allowing my misguided infatuation with you to influence my decisions stops today." Seeing her opening her mouth to protest, he held up a hand, signaling she not even try. "As much as I enjoy your spunk, Caroline, I would strongly advise against talking back to me right now unless you would enjoy being locked away."

"Locked away?" she questioned, not liking the sound of that.

Relaxing slightly, Klaus released some of the tension from his shoulders. "You are a liability, Caroline, now more than ever. Easily one of the largest I have and ever have had to deal with. Out of respect for you I am graciously allowing you to continue living in your own home, going to school, seeing your friends."

"I'm sorry, you're allowing me?" Caroline hissed, her face a mixture of shock and anger. "You're kidding, right? Tyler would never-"

"Ah," Klaus interrupted, smiling venomously. "There it is. The name that somehow works its way into every conversation you have. Do you think Tyler talks or thinks about you half as much as you do him? I would be willing to wager that he doesn't."

"Stop it," Caroline murmured, feeling the weight of his words.

Not missing an opportunity to pick apart Caroline and Tyler's relationship, Klaus continued, his enthusiasm level for the subject unable to be hidden. "Tell me, Caroline, does Tyler even have time for you anymore, what, with all the countless hours he skips around Mystic Falls with that Hayley creature?"

Caroline opened her mouth to answer but found herself incapable of forming words to defend Tyler. Looking completely satisfied, Klaus shrugged, chuckling to himself. Her silence spoke volumes, but on top of her inaction to jump to the mutt's defense, he could feel her insecurity and inner turmoil stemming from his comments. "And there you have it."

Unwilling to sit with him any longer, Caroline grabbed her purse and slid from the booth and started speed walking away. Klaus sat and stared at her empty place before letting out a low growl. Quickly he threw down a couple bills on the table and broke into a jog to attempt to catch up with her.

Caroline was taking deep breaths to try and push away her anger as she walked quickly towards her car, keys in hand. "Caroline!" Upon hearing his voice, she sped up, looking both ways before stepping into the street. "Caroline!" he called again, reaching out to grab her arm.

"Do not touch me!" she spat, rotating on her heal as she lashed out against Klaus with her car keys.

Holding up his hands in surrender, Klaus let out a slight chuckle at the sight of a glittery, pink cat key chain. "I didn't mean to start a fight, love."

"Bullshit," Caroline hissed, looking at him in disgust. Why couldn't he just leave her alone? Life would be far from easy, but she wouldn't have to deal with her conflicting feelings if he wasn't around.

"My words were not meant to upset you, Caroline. I only wanted to-"

"To what, Klaus?" she growled. "Because what you just said to me in there couldn't have been meant for anything else! You hate Tyler, you hate that I'm with him and you can't get over the jealousy you feel, so you try to manipulate every situation to make me doubt him."

"Lower your voice," Klaus grumbled as he glanced over his shoulder, becoming increasingly uncomfortable with her volume and the topic of discussion, particularly the fact that they were in the middle of the street in the center of town. "I am the Original hybrid, Caroline," he quietly hissed, leaning forward to glare directly into her eyes. "I don't have any reason to be jealous of anyone."

Caroline, not being one to back down glared back at Klaus, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly. "But you are, aren't you? That's probably the worst part of it all for you. Here you are, finally the Original hybrid, and you still haven't managed to get your little self-made family army. Now you're stuck in Mystic Falls and for whatever reason, you're fixated on me, but you can't have me either, but Tyler can. I think that you're incredibly jealous, and that pisses you off."

In a flash Klaus had grabbed Caroline's arms roughly, giving her a stern shake as stared menacingly into her eyes. "You don't know what the hell you are talking about."

"Don't I?" she breathed quietly, swallowing the lump forming in her throat. Leaning her face closer so that she was staring right into his eyes as hers fluttered between his stormy blue eyes and his full lips. "In case you've already forgotten, the works both ways, Klaus."

Huffing, Klaus released her and took a step back, taking in Caroline's triumphant smile. "See? I told you!"

"Please, keep your voice down," Klaus groaned, rolling his eyes as Caroline continued to laugh. Feeling and seeing her happiness did make his mood lighter, but he refused to let it show on his face as he watched her blankly. "Have you quite finished laughing at me yet?"

"Almost," Caroline said, letting out the last of her laughter as she dabbed at her eyes. "Whew, that was good. I needed that."

Sighing, Klaus glanced across the street to where Matt Donovan's truck was pulling into the vacant spot beside Caroline's car. "Remember what I said, Caroline," he murmured, turning back to her. "I would hate to cage you, but I will do what I have to if it means protection."

"Yeah, sure," she said, shrugging off his words.

"Caroline?" Glancing over her shoulder, Caroline saw Matt, standing beside his truck giving her and Klaus a wary look.

"I forgot Matt gets out of school early to come to work," she commented offhandedly, turning back around to find herself nose-to-nose with Klaus.

His eyes scanned her face thoughtfully before landing back on her crystal like eyes. "Remember my warning, sweetheart. It's a kindness I extend to you and you alone." And then he was gone.

"Care?" Caroline heard as Matt came to stand beside her, still in the middle of the street. "What was that all about?" he asked, nervously watching the area Klaus took off in.

Blinking a few times, Caroline plastered a carefree smile back on her face, turning to her ex-boyfriend. "You know Klaus, just being Klaus."

"You sure?" he questioned, narrowing his eyes at her. "Whatever he was saying, it looked pretty intense."

Shrugging, Caroline shook her head. "No, just the typical brooding lonely stalker routine. Same old stuff."

Matt let out a frustrated breath, not believing her. "Why weren't you in school today?"

"Um..." Caroline drew out, squinting off across the street towards the Grill as she thought about how to answer. "Stefan Elena emergency."

"So a Stefan emergency," he corrected but still did not sound convinced. "What kind of Stefan emergency?"

Nibbling on her lip, Caroline felt guilty that she promised Stefan she wouldn't tell anyone. "Matt, you know I'd tell you if I could, but I can't. It's just really complicated right now."

Nodding, Matt looked over at the Grill. "Whatever, Caroline. I have to get to work."

"Matt," she pleaded, reaching out to grab his arm as he stepped away from her. "Please don't be mad at me."

"It's fine, Care," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "You have all your vampire supernatural secrets and I'm not in the club. I get it."

"Matt," Caroline begged after his retreating figure. "Matt!" Nothing. Caroline watched sadly as he entered the Grill before turning and trudging over to her car. "Today sucks," she grumbled, tossing her purse inside before getting in herself.

* * *

After running various errands for her mother like groceries and household necessities, Caroline stumbled through the door, dropping her keys in the process. "Come on! Seriously?" she shouted, struggling to keep her armfuls of groceries from following her keys. "Stefan, you here?"

Trudging to the kitchen, Caroline dropped the bags onto the counter top and wandered into the living room. "Stef?" she questioned, seeing nothing moved from the last time she was home. "Stefan!" Caroline yelled loudly, one final time. "Et tu, Stefan?" she grumbled to herself, disappointed that he wasn't around.

As she walked back out to her car to grab the last remaining bags, she felt her phone vibrate from its place in her pocket. Sighing, she quickly skipped up the steps into the house, depositing the bags with the others before reaching into her pocket and fishing out her phone.

**Ladies night at the boarding house. 7 p.m. sharp!**

**-E**

Caroline stared down at the text, not sure how to respond. Did she respond at all? She didn't really want to be around Damon even if that meant seeing Bonnie and Elena, well, weird vampire version of Elena.

Sighing, she decided to just not respond and show up as requested. Walking into her room, Caroline flopped backwards onto her bed with a sigh. Hearing a crinkling noise, she sat up and reached behind her head, pulling out a hand written letter.

"Please don't be from Klaus," she quietly prayed, squinting down at the note.

_Caroline-_

_Went on a little day-trip with Damon. Be back tomorrow sometime. Try not to get into too much trouble while I'm gone.  
You were right.  
Stefan_

"I was right?" Caroline asked allowed, unsure of his meaning for a moment before it dawned on her. "I was right," she murmured. "Fuck."

* * *

In his studio, Klaus's eyes surveyed the painting he was in the process of making. Mayor Lockwood had contacted him earlier that morning asking if he would like to contribute something to a charity event coming up at the end of the week. At first he was just going to throw some money her way and call it a day, but the more he thought about it, the more he actually wanted to donate something that actually would represent himself, so he called her back and said he would be donating a painting for the auction.

Currently he was staring at a canvas covered with black paint. Sighing he walked over to his mini bar and poured himself a glass of bourbon and stopped the quiet jazz music that was flowing from his record player before slowly walking over to a window. He needed to think. He needed silence.

Klaus angrily stared out into evening air as the last rays of light began to dip below the horizon. The only think he could think of since his conversation with Caroline that afternoon were the same words that had been a motto for all his life; love is a vampire's greatest weakness. He had been wrong. Whatever connection he had inadvertently created with Caroline was without a doubt the biggest weakness a vampire could have. Klaus knew Caroline didn't understand the power she had over him before the bond so he was sure she couldn't grasp the situation they currently found themselves in, the dangers.

Even now with her miles away, he could feel her. It was like her body was sending out a pulse, a signal to him. Klaus knew that if he pushed everything else from his mind and focused on it, he could follow it right to her like a GPS signal. Closing his eyes and clearing his mind, Klaus focused on the pulse. Caroline was calm with a hint of agitation and a touch of excitement. Before he could stop himself, Klaus's mind started to wonder what she was doing… if she was thinking of him. He doubted it, but the idea brought a smile to his face all the same.

Opening his eyes, Klaus took a gulp of his drink before turning around and heading back to his canvas, switching back on his record player. The best thing he could do for himself and Caroline Forbes was push all thoughts of her from his mind.

* * *

As Caroline pulled up to the curb in front of Bonnie's house, she smiled brightly as she watched her witch friend stand from her seat on the porch steps and skip to the car.

"Hey pretty lady!" Caroline called as she rolled down her window, cat calling her best friend. "Get in the car, I have candy."

"Candy?" Bonnie smiled and giggled as she opened the door and slid inside. "You know I can't say no to candy!"

The girls giggled as they hugged each other before settling back into their respective seats. "So, you ditched school today."

Caroline let out a nervous chuckle as she nodded. "Yeah… I had some vampire stuff to deal with."

"Anything serious I should know about?" Bonnie asked nervously.

"Nope," Caroline quickly lied, instantly feeling guilty about it. "Just had a long night and didn't feel like going. Plus Stefan had some major Elena venting to do. She moved into the boarding house last night to be with Damon. He showed up at my house and is crashing there for the foreseeable future."

"For real?" Bonnie questioned, completely shocked. "That's… wow. How are you dealing with that?"

Caroline shrugged as she watched the road. "I kind of love the idea of Stefan staying at my house. You know mom is always in and out so I mostly live alone."

"I meant the Elena being with Damon thing," Bonnie said quietly.

When Damon first came to town, everyone thought he was dating her. They knew he was feeding on her and that he compelled her to do certain things, but the only person Caroline told of the extent of Damon's compulsion was Bonnie. She knew he used her for everything he wanted, like a living plaything. Everything.

Caroline felt a shiver go up her spine as she briefly let herself think of a time when her body and mind wasn't her own. "Obviously I'm far from happy about it, but something is telling me she won't listen to reason on this one, Bon."

"Well, if we push it she won't. Maybe if we hear details we will have a better idea of what's going on," Bonnie suggested. "I mean, that's all we really can do. Just listen and be there for her."

"Always the silver lining," Caroline smiled at her friend as she pulled up in front of the boarding house. "Well, here goes nothing."

* * *

Sitting in his comfortable chair by the fire with another glass of bourbon, Klaus stared down at the pile of love letters he brought out of storage that afternoon. The conversation with Caroline left him feeling nostalgic.

While Klaus did hate love and how it seemed to crippled people, he had collected love letters from his victims over the years and lived vicariously through them. Klaus got to experience love through the heartfelt words of others, their feelings and emotions jumped off the pages and into his mind, sparking his imagination.

That's how Klaus knew, despite his reluctance to the idea, that he had sprouted feelings for Caroline. He refused to label them as love, but whatever he felt was growing stronger every day.

Looking away from the reminder of the loneliness he had endured for centuries, Klaus stared into the flames as he contemplated Caroline, his family and his hybrids when something twitched in the back of his mind. Something was off but he couldn't place it. Standing, Klaus set his glass down on the table and began moving through his house. He searched every room and came up with nothing. Whatever he sensed wasn't an intruder, but his mind was still telling him that he was in danger.

Doing his best to shake it off, Klaus returned to the living room and downed the rest of his drink before pouring himself another generous glass. Before too long, beads of sweat were forming on his forehead and a twinge of pain pulsed in his right wrist. "What is happening to me?" he questioned aloud as he glared down at his uninjured yet pained wrist.

Closing his eyes, Klaus collapsed into his chair and forced his mind to push the strange, unwarranted emotions out. He had almost succeeded when the pain disappeared and soon after the panic slipped from his mind, replaced by a sense of relief.

Having a clear mind, it dawned on Klaus instantly. Caroline.

Without thinking, he raced from his house and to the Forbes residence. Luckily her mother wasn't home and Klaus was displeased to find the house void of Caroline as well. He focused on her pulse to find it calm and relaxed. Not appeased, he walked into the living room and resolved himself to wait for her to get home, just to be certain that she was fine.

* * *

"You sure you're alright?" Bonnie asked as she pulled Caroline's car into her driveway.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I just need some rest." Bonnie drove Caroline's car home for her while Elena followed in hers.

Bonnie handed over Caroline's keys, giving her a hug. "Text me tomorrow to let me know how you're doing, ok?"

Caroline nodded, taking a deep breath as she felt exhaustion overtake her. "Sure Bon. Night." Giving Elena a quick wave, Caroline dragged herself up the stairs, unlocked the door to her house and staggered down the hallway towards her room.

Walking past the living room, Caroline had almost made it to her bedroom before she stepped backwards to stand in the doorway to the living room. "Klaus, what are you doing here?"

He slowly stood, his eyes nervously scanning her wary looking form. "You look a little worse for the ware, sweetheart," Klaus murmured. "Why don't you sit down and relax." Too tired to argue, Caroline slipped out of her jacket and collapsed onto the couch. "Would you like to talk about it?"

Caroline could hear, see and feel Klaus's genuine concern and couldn't help but wonder if it was for himself or her. "I just had a rough, rough night," she mumbled quietly, her eyes closed as she rubbed her forehead.

"Something happened to you, and I'd like to know what," he said, trying his best not to seem too forceful in his probing.

"How do you know?" she challenged, opening her eyes and tilting her head against the back of the couch to look over at him.

Reluctant to share, Klaus shrugged, flashing a small smile. "Call it intuition."

"Well, you definitely weren't stalking me because if you saw what happened, you would not be smiling right now," Caroline thought allowed. "You feel something?"

"Perhaps," he said calmly, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Perhaps some wrist pain?" Caroline inquired, doing her best to not let her amount of nervousness show. It was one thing to stumble into each others unconsciousness and be able to pick up on traces of feelings, but it was another thing completely to be able to literally feel when the other person was in pain. That meant a pretty binding bond, and that was terrifying.

"Right wrist," Klaus confirmed casually. "Please don't make me ask again, sweetheart. My patience is rather thin tonight, I'm afraid, and I don't want to misdirect anger towards you when it so clearly would be better spent on someone else."

Letting out the breath she hadn't been aware she was holding, Caroline decided she had to tell at least some of the truth or he would know she was making up a story. "Had a bit of an altercation with one of your hybrid minions."

Raising an eyebrow questioningly at the news, Klaus sat up in his seat, no longer taking on a laid back, casual demeanor. "I must say, that was not even on my list of guesses. What sparked this altercation with…?"

"I'm not going to tell you who it was," Caroline grumbled, already seeing the wheels of retribution spinning behind Klaus's eyes. "You're lucky I told you as much as I did."

Slightly irritated by her tight-lipped answer, Klaus realized that he was an idiot to think Caroline would feed him the name of her attacker, knowing full well his reaction. It amazed him how protective she was over people who did not deserve it, but did give him incredible insight into the woman she was. "Alright, keep you little secrets," he smiled, relaxing once more. "I'll figure out who it was, with or without your help. Without will be more entertaining anyway."

Caroline groaned, rolling her eyes. "Don't do that."

"Don't do what?" Klaus asked, his white teeth shining brightly in the dim light of Caroline's living room.

"Don't torture people in my name," she sighed, exasperated with him.

"It honestly would bother you if I did that, wouldn't it?" he inquired with a strange hint of wonder in his voice. "Why does this matter? I felt your fear and pain myself. Whoever did that to you does not worthy your kindness or protection."

Shaking her head, Caroline stared back into his angry eyes. "Klaus, I'm tired and I had a long night. Can we change the subject please?"

Sighing, Klaus nodded, easily giving in to her request. "What's with the blankets and pillow?" he asked, pointing to the neatly folded stack of sleeping supplies piled onto the coffee table. "Having a slumber party?"

Letting out a snort of laughter, Caroline's face broke into a smile for the first time that night. "Sort of. Stefan got kicked out of his house."

"Stefan is sleeping on your couch?" Klaus asked, finding this news incredibly amusing. "Did he and Damon have another lovers quarrel?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess you could say that," Caroline nodded. "Elena moved into the boarding house because Jeremy is trying to kill her, and by moved into the boarding house, I mean Damon's room. Stefan didn't want to be around all that nastiness so he's crashing here."

"Aren't you an angel for lending him your sofa," Klaus chuckled, admiring Caroline's comfortable demeanor around him. He couldn't help but wonder if the bond was to blame.

Yawning, Caroline moved to stand but swayed unsteadily on her feet. "Easy there, sweetheart," Klaus murmured, instantly appearing at her side, his arm wrapped around Caroline in support.

"Sorry, I guess I have a little less energy than I thought." Before Caroline could say another word, Klaus had slung her into his arms, bridal style and easily carried her to her room. As he pulled the covers back and carefully tucked her in, Caroline let out another long yawn. "Normally I would say something about how I can do it or something, but I'm too tired to argue with you tonight," she whispered, her eyes closed as she snuggled beneath the blankets.

"You're welcome, Caroline," Klaus answered quietly, gently running his hand through her hair before leaning down to place a chaste kiss on her forehead.

As he turned to exit the room, Caroline's hand shot out and wrapped around his right wrist, holding him in place. "Klaus?" she called, her voice heavy with fatigue.

"Yes, sweetheart?" he asked, turning back around to look down at her.

"Can you- I mean, if it's not too much trouble, maybe stay here until I fall asleep?" Caroline asked gently, her eyes swimming with uncertainty.

Touched by her simple request, Klaus perched beside her on the bed, maneuvering her hand from his wrist into his hand. "Of course I can," Klaus said, bringing the back of her hand to his lips. "Of course I can, Caroline."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Caroline smiled into her pillow as she slowly closed her eyes. "Thank you. I just don't want to be alone right now," she murmured, right before drifting off to sleep.

Klaus lost track of time as he sat in silence watching Caroline as she slept, deep in thought. Was this bond a gift or a curse? It brought him closer to Caroline, that was for certain, but it was not without a huge disadvantage. As it stood currently, he experienced her emotions when pushed to the extreme and even shared in some of her physical pain. What if that grew stronger? What if instead of a numbed version of her pain he received a matching broken wrist or snapped neck? The last thing he needed was to be left unexpectedly vulnerable in a town of people who hated him and came up with a new plot to kill him every other day.

His attention was drawn back to Caroline as her brown scrunched together and she let out a small noise as she snuggled deeper under the covers. Letting out a sigh, Klaus's right hand came to carefully push stray strands of hair from her face as he admired her openly.

He spent the next few hours with his eyes closed trying to master control of his Caroline radar. The more he practiced feeling for her emotions, her essence, the easier it was to hone in on it and push it aside. Klaus was just getting the hang of it when the sounds of a car pulling into the driveway pulled him from the exercise, his eyes snapping open. Listening carefully, he recognized the hushed voice of Liz Forbes talking to herself as she slowly climbed the front porch stairs.

His eyes drifting back to Caroline's sleeping form and he smiled down at her. "That's my cue, love," he murmured quietly, leaning down to place a light kiss atop her head. Standing, he stretched out his back. "I leave you in your mother's capable hands."

As Liz lazily slung the door open, struggling with her bag, a gush of wind blew by her from inside the house to the outside. Shocked and taken aback, Liz Forbes stared out into the night for any signs of movement. "Hello?" she called, scanning the street.

Seeing and hearing nothing, she closed and locked the door behind her and walked straight for Caroline's room. Opening the partially closed door, Liz breathed a sigh of relief as she took in her daughter's sleeping form.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing having to do with The Vampire Diaries in any shape or form, nor do I have any fiscal stake in writing this story. It is purely for creative enjoyment. The only things I own are my original take on TVD universe and any original characters if I feel like adding some.

**Author's** **Note:** Chapter four for you all. Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed. Thanks to my newly acquired beta, TheDuchesofFiction for giving this a once over for me. Much appreciated.

I had a question posed to me how closely this story will follow the t.v. show and that's a bit hard to explain. It will to an extent and yet it wont. I am 99.9% sure Silas is going to be in the story, but I think it's going to go in a bit of a different direction. Very rarely will you see/read something that was on the show, but if it is, it will be pretty different with a few exceptions (super important convos or dialog that I love too much to change). Sorry that's so vague, but I don't want to give anything away. :)

As always, thanks for taking the time to read, and I very much appreciate any reviews you write. Advice, thoughts, constructive criticism, suggestions/things you'd like to see are wonderful. Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I do writing it.

* * *

Caroline nibbled on her bottom lip as stared blankly at the wall, watching the second hand of the clock as it slowly ticked on. She was sitting at the counter in her kitchen with her history textbook open to the chapter she was supposed to be outlining.

"Oh darn," Caroline said merrily to herself, standing and slamming her textbook closed. "Time to get ready to go."

Leaving her school materials in the kitchen, she walked down the short hallway to her bedroom where her dress and sweater were already laid out on her bed. To try and minimize distractions, Caroline had left her cell phone in her bedroom. She picked it up, checking for new messages.

**Can't wait to see you today.  
****I've missed you. Hope you're  
****still not mad.  
****I love you.**

Sighing, Caroline tossed her phone back onto the top of her dresser. She and Tyler had not been on good terms since his hybrid buddies abducted her. Sure, he had threatened Kim, but other than that Tyler had done nothing, at least nothing for Caroline. He still spent every hour with his hybrid pack mates, Hayley included, and completely brushed off everything Caroline had to say.

Tyler had finally come over to her house to hang out the night before and that only had ended in an epic fight.

* * *

"_What is your problem, Care? I thought we were on the same page," Tyler growled, running his right hand through his hair in agitation. "You said you supported me, what I am trying to do."_

"_I did," Caroline sighed, shaking her head at her poor choice of words. "I mean, I do, but don't you think this is all getting out of hand? You spend every second out at the stupid farm and when you're not there, you're with Hayley. I just think that there are more important things than-"_

"_Than what, Caroline?" Tyler yelled, throwing his hands in the air. "Than our freedom? Than killing Klaus?"_

"_Yes!" she shouted right back, thanking God that her mother was at the station and didn't have to listen to this. "You all broke the damn sire bond, Tyler! That was the point! If you kill Klaus, you kill all of us!" she hissed, shoving him in the chest. "Hayley's totally fine with pushing this plan because she doesn't understand what-"_

"_Oh, there it is," Tyler laughed darkly, pacing in front of Caroline, nodding to himself. "Why don't we talk about why you're really angry, Caroline."_

_Her face lit up with anger as Caroline watched Tyler walking the length of her bedroom. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? You know why I'm upset. It's what we've been arguing about for the past hour and a half. You have been an absentee boyfriend and friend for all of us since you started Project Un-sire Hybrids, which is great, but you're taking this too the extreme."_

"_Sure it is," Tyler chuckled venomously. "You're just jealous of Hayley. I thought we've been over this, Caroline. Nothing happened." __Caroline's mouth fell open in shock as Tyler stopped his ministration to stare back at her. "What? What is that look for?" he questioned._

"_I am not jealous of Hayley!" Caroline screamed, reaching for a pillow from her bed and throwing it at Tyler's head. "She is a slutty, annoying idiot! I am angry at you, you moron, because you are acting just like everyone else and you're my goddamn boyfriend! You're supposed to put me first, or at least spare an hour to check in with me or something!"_

"_What the hell are you talking about?" Tyler barked, easily dodging the plush projectile. "I do put you first."_

"_Ugh," Caroline scoffed, tears of frustration and anger welling up her in eyes. She was so proud of herself for not crying thus far and now it was all going out the window. "You're being an asshole right now, you know that? Be honest, Ty. The other night when the hybrids kidnapped and tortured me, what did you do after I left?"_

_Tyler's forehead scrunched in thought as he watched Caroline angrily wipe at her eyes. "I stayed at the farm to calm everyone down, to talk strategy. We have a lot to do and every minute counts."_

_Caroline frowned as she tried in vain to stop the traitorous tears from rolling down her cheeks. "Did you even stop to think about me for even a second? That maybe you should've taken the night off and driven me home? That I was feeling scared and like shit because some people who you call friends and brothers stabbed me, broke my limbs and almost staked me and maybe I didn't want to be alone?" When Tyler didn't answer and the anger on his face turned to embarrassment, Caroline nodded in confirmation to herself. "But instead of taking care of your girlfriend who you claim to love so much and put first, you stayed and hung out with the gang of psychos who just kidnapped and tortured her."_

_Sighing, Tyler's eyes looked up from his feet to Caroline's face and he shrugged. "I'm sorry Care. I guess I wasn't really thinking. The pack needed me, and-"_

"Th pack needed you,_" Caroline muttered, interrupting his attempt at an excuse. "They need you, but I need you too." Thinking over her words, Caroline shook her head. "I needed you, but you made your choice."_

"_Come on Care, don't do this," Tyler pleaded, taking a step towards her._

"_Tyler, I think we should take a break," Caroline whispered, holding up her hand to signal that he should not come closer. "You're heart isn't in this and I need more than you can give right now."_

_"A break?" he questioned, completely caught off guard by the change of events. "You want a break? For how long?"_

_Nodding, she self-consciously blinked up at him. "Indefinitely... for now."_

"_Caroline," Tyler murmured sadly. "I'm sorry. Please, just understand."_

"_I think you should go," she breathed quietly._

_"Are you serious?" he asked, dumbfounded. Not saying a word, Caroline nodded, taking a few steps back and sitting down on her bed. "You don't mean that," Tyler said shaking his head but backing away towards the hallway. "We're going to talk tomorrow and everything's going to be fine. You just need to cool off." Caroline couldn't look at him but she could feel the weight of his eyes on her and hear the hope in his voice. "I'll see you tomorrow at Winter Wonderland, Care."_

_"Goodnight, Tyler," Caroline sighed, glancing up at him._

_"Goodnight Caroline. I love you," he said, standing in the doorway to her room as he waited for her to say the same. When she didn't, he let out a dry chuckle. "You're going to feel really stupid tomorrow when you wake up and realize this was just a normal fight and you overreacted. We're fine. Everything is fine."_

* * *

"You feeling any better today?"

"Jesus!" Caroline screamed, holding a hand over her chest in fright as she glared at where Stefan now stood in her doorway. "I'm happy you're making yourself at home, Stef, but you gotta stop sneaking up on me!"

Stefan smiled brightly at Caroline as he shrugged. "Sorry, but it's kinda fun." Rolling her eyes, Caroline reached for her dress and wandered into her bathroom. "So are you feeling better today or not?" Stefan called after her as he looked down at his phone, scrolling through his contacts.

"Yes and no," Caroline yelled back. "I think this is what's best for us and no because I'm dreading seeing him at this fundraiser. You're still my date, right? Before you answer, I would like to warn you to not even think about abandoning me, because I will hate you forever."

Stefan slipped his phone into his pocket as he stepped into her room, walking over to her dresser and picking up the Klaus drawing to inspect it. "No plans of abandonment. I just have a couple quick things to do first. You won't mind me meeting you there, right?"

"What sort of quick things?" Caroline questioned as she exited her bathroom, now changed into her dress.

"Well, first on my list is I have to go see your boyfriend," Stefan smirked, shaking the now re-rolled up Klaus drawing.

Rolling her eyes, Caroline pulled her white sweater off the hanger and slipped it on. "Very funny Stefan," she said sarcastically, eying him angrily. "What do you want to talk to Klaus about?"

"Klaus still M.I.A.?" he questioned, an eyebrow raising for good measure. "That's so uncharacteristically not him. The guy stalks you to the point where he is showing up in your dreams, possibly of his own will, and all of a sudden he's off the grid? No phone calls, no texts, no in person contact... it's just weird. You sure you haven't heard from him?"

Caroline thought back to the last time she had seen or heard from Klaus; the night his hybrids had abducted her and he had showed up at her house. He had stayed with her until she had fallen asleep like she had requested and had been gone before she woke up. Of course Caroline hadn't seen or heard from him since. A couple times she had a weird feeling that he was around, but she never saw him. Caroline had yet to get a good hold on her Klaus bond related feelers, but she had spent a good deal of time trying. Not only did she have an awkward day ahead with Tyler and his mother, but Caroline knew Klaus was going to be at the charity event and she dreaded that post-event conversation as well.

"Heard from Klaus?" Caroline asked quickly, moving past Stefan to her jewelry box. "Why should I have heard from him? It's not like we're friends or have anything to talk about. Besides that, what would I want to hear from him for?"

Stefan's eyes narrowed at her as she selected a pair of earrings. "You're kidding me, right? Caroline, you've been really weird since I got back from New Orleans. Are you sure nothing happened at your little sit-down lunch with Klaus?" he questioned, clearly suspicious.

"Nope," Caroline shrugged, avoiding eye contact as she secured her jewelry. "Nothing to report."

"Because last I heard you were code red over Klaus's dream takeover and now everything's magically fine," Stefan murmured, his eyes narrowed into slits. "Look me in the eyes and tell me that nothing is going on."

Taking a deep, steadying breath, Caroline turned to face her vampire mentor. "There's nothing going on," she said calmly.

Stefan stared into her eyes for several moments before shrugging and stepping past her towards the hallway. "Fine, don't tell me. I'll figure it out sooner or later, and when I do, I am going to be devastated that you lied to me," he teased.

"Sure you are. Have fun with Mystic Fall's favorite senior citizen!" Caroline called after him as he headed for the front door.

"Have fun with dodging Tyler and his mom all day!" Stefan called back, instantly wiping the smug smile off Caroline's face.

* * *

Klaus critically examined his painting in the bright, natural light of his studio. The entirely black canvas had turned into the unexpected backdrop for, of all things, a snowflake. Admittedly it wasn't one of his better works, but Klaus wasn't unhappy with it. It would serve its purpose as a painting in a Christmas charity auction.

Just when he was about to take it down off the easel and call it completed, Klaus glared back at it in thought. It was too… cheery. For something that started out as dark as this painting did, it somehow had evolved and turned into a snowflake.

Carefully selecting a brush, Klaus began adding accents of black, slashes that intercepted the snowflake's uninterrupted, peaceful existence. "There, that's better," Klaus whispered to himself as the painting began to finally feel like a finished representation of himself.

Hearing footsteps approaching, Klaus frowned in agitation, hoping it was his hybrid he had summoned to his house over an hour ago.

"Looks like a giant snowflake to me."

Pausing in his brush strokes, Klaus sighed, quickly sparing a glance over at where Stefan now was leaning against the door frame of his studio. "I prefer to think of it as an expression of post modernism." Giving it a quick once over, Klaus dropped his brush into his cup of warm water and wiped his hands on his rag. "It's my contribution to the Christmas Charity event."

"Winter Wonderland," Stefan corrected, smirking over at Klaus.

"Yes well, whatever the ridiculous thing is called," he grumbled back, his face darkening when his hybrid strode past Stefan into the room.

"You said it was urgent," Adrian breathed casually, his left hand tucked into the pocket of his jeans.

Looking him over distastefully, Klaus silently berated himself for not being more selective with his hybrid creation process. He shouldn't have wasted his blood on the pathetic lot he did. It was a privilege to be of a superior race that he had spent his whole life trying to become and Klaus was less than thrilled with being stuck with the motley crew he had now and only them for the rest of eternity. But at the same time, he was semi-greatful just to have any.

"Such a disappointment," Klaus quietly murmured to himself as he approached the overconfident pup in front of him. "You know, Adrian, you're rather lucky that it wasn't particularly urgent or you might've found yourself a head shorter. Thank you for finally showing up, by the way. But tell me, what took you so long?" he asked, his eyes narrowing to slits.

"Last time you said it was urgent you had me run to the store to get you Fritos," Adrian complained. "I figured it was probably not an emergency, so I took my time."

Letting out a low growl, Klaus took a step back and gestured to his painting. "Take this to the Mystic Grill immediately. Do you think you can manage that?"

"I'm here to deliver a painting?" Adrian asked in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"Of course I am serious. You're here to do whatever it is I want you to do," Klaus challenged, stepping up to Adrian to glare down at him. "You will do what I say when I say, and you will stop acting like an adolescent girl, am I clear?"

"Crystal," Adrian grumbled, moving past Klaus to pick up his painting.

Letting out some of his tension, Klaus's eyes followed his hybrid as he moved past him into the hallway. "And if you know what's good for you, you will be careful with that. It's still wet."

As Stefan stared after the other hybrid, he chuckled quietly to himself. "That was a bit harsh, don't you think?"

"No, I don't," Klaus hissed, making quick work of cleaning his brushes. "What reason have you chosen to grace me with your presence, Stefan? As you can see I'm rather busy. If you wouldn't mind fast tracking this conversation, I'd greatly appreciate it."

Sighing, Stefan pushed himself off the wall and stepped down into Klaus's studio space. "Elena is sired to Damon."

Stopping what he was doing, Klaus stood up and turned to face the younger Salvatore brother, a smirk firmly planted on his face. "I intuited as much."

"Caroline figured it out the night of Miss Mystic," Stefan said, watching Klaus's face for any change at the mention of Caroline's name, disappointed when he found none.

"She's a smart girl," Klaus murmured, still smirking. "I knew it wouldn't take her very long."

"You pushed her in the right direction," Stefan quietly walked up to the Original hybrid.

Shrugging, Klaus shook his head. "I nudged her at the most. She was already headed in the right direction when she consulted me on the subject of Elena's erratic behavior."

"Now I need the cure even more than ever," Stefan said, eying Klaus suspiciously. "What have you been doing to help the cause? You've been playing dream catcher with Caroline and now I find you painting happy snowflakes."

"Caroline," Klaus growled under his breath, frowning at the reference to his dream hopping several nights ago.

"So?" Stefan challenge, throwing his hands in the air and looking around Klaus's room. "What have you done to help us find the cure?"

"In case you've forgotten, Stefan, I went all the way to Italy to retrieve the hunter's sword," Klaus hissed, crossing his arms over his chest angrily. "That was my part of the bargain we made. I get the sword that decodes the map and you bring the hunter and his mark, a.k.a. the map." Glancing around his house dramatically, Klaus looked back at Stefan in mock confusion. "I must have missed something, because I can't seem to find our hunter with his completed mark, and I know you wouldn't be talking to me like this unless you actually contributed something yourself."

"We are working on it, Klaus." Stepping back into the doorway again, Stefan's hands came to rest on his hips as he stared back at the Original in front of him. "Jeremy needs to kill vampires to complete the mark but we're having a bit of trouble keeping him from killing us in the process."

A smug grin planted back on his face, Klaus's arms dropped back to his sides. "That sounds like a personal problem, mate. Like I said, I have done my part. If you're so impatient to get to finding the cure, perhaps you should try a bit harder with your half of the homework."

Thinking quickly, Stefan narrowed his eyes at Klaus as his head tilted to the side in thought. "So you say, but I haven't seen any proof."

"Proof of what?" Klaus laughed, staring back at him in amusement.

"You say you have this sword, but no one has seen it but you. How do I know you actually have it and you're not playing me?" he questioned.

"Pathetic," Klaus grumbled, rolling his eyes as he pushed past Stefan to trudge into the connecting room. "What possible reason would I have to lie to you, Stefan?" he asked, walking over to his safe, putting in the combination and opening it, taking out the Hunter's sword. "There, satisfied?" he asked, holding out the rusted relic.

Stefan carefully reached out and accepted the sword from Klaus as he moved to flop back onto a couch, watching the younger vampire look over the sword carefully. Feeling satisfied, Klaus felt a good personal dig was in order. "I heard you moved out of your house. Bit of a martyr move, don't you think?"

"Oh yeah?" Stefan asked, looking up from the sword. "I wonder who could've told you that."

Letting out a bark of a laugh, Klaus adjusted himself on the plush couch, getting more comfortable. "No reason to get testy, Stefan. I'm just a concerned individual inquiring after the status of my friend, that's all."

"Speaking of Caroline," Stefan murmured, dropping the sword onto Klaus's coffee table. "I am curious as to why she's been acting strange around me since I got back from New Orleans. I'm guessing you have something to do with it?"

"New Orleans?" Klaus asked, ignoring Stefan's question entirely. "What a lovely town. What were you doing all the way down there?"

"Cut the crap, Klaus," Stefan breathed, staring down at the Original angrily. "Caroline isn't talking, so it stands to reason that someone, particularly you, has threatened her into silence. What did you do, Klaus? Who'd you threaten to kill, her mom? Bonnie? Maybe Matt?"

Chuckling, Klaus's smile was as bright as ever. "Come now, Stefan. Do you really think I'd stoop as low as to threaten her family and friends?"

"Yes, I do," Stefan nodded.

Rolling his eyes, Klaus swiftly stood and approached the younger Salvatore brother. "Don't worry about Caroline, mate. I can assure you that currently I have no plans or interest in harming any of her friends or family, Tyler Lockwood being the exception, of course."

Narrowing his eyes at Klaus, Stefan pursed his lips together in thought. "Fine, you wouldn't hurt her. Anyone with two eyes and half a brain could figure that out because you're obsessed with her."

"I'm not obsessed with her," Klaus murmured, shaking his head.

"What about Caroline's dreams? I can't imagine that they just stopped." Stefan said, ignoring Klaus's denial of his feelings for the young blonde vampire. "How did you figure out a way to sneak into her subconscious? That seems a bit low, even for you."

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," he said, shrugging. "Now if you'll excuse me, Stefan, I have a Christmas Wonderland-"

"Winter Wonderland," Stefan interrupted, correcting Klaus.

Klaus's jaw clenched and unclenched in agitation as he glared back at Stefan before moving past him into the hallway. "I have to get ready for a charity event. You can show yourself out."

* * *

Caroline carefully walked the perimeter of the outside portion of the Mystic Falls Winter Wonderland event, her eyes scanning for any sign of Tyler, his mother or Klaus. The last thing she wanted to do was have an awkward run in with them right from the start. She had to play this right and avoid-

"Caroline?"

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" Caroline breathed, turning to see Matt approaching her, his face now changing to confusion. "You're not still made at me, are you?" she asked, pulling him into a firm hug.

Matt chuckled, shaking his head as he hugged her back. "No, you know I'm not really a grudge holder, Care." Letting her go, he took a step back and looked around, amused as Caroline continued to scan the area. "What is up with you today? Who are you looking for?"

"More like who am I not looking for," she laughed, turning back to Matt. "Do me a favor and keep an eye out for Tyler and his mom, would you? Trying to keep a low profile for the moment..."

"Oh yeah," Matt nodded, giving her a concerned expression. "I saw Tyler about thirty minutes ago. He mentioned that you guys had a fight last night."

"A fight?" Caroline snorted, rolling her eyes. "Try the fight. We're kind of on a break."

Matt's brow scrunched together. "A break? He didn't mention anything about that."

"I'm sure he didn't," Caroline murmured, glancing over her shoulder. "What did he say?"

Matt shrugged as he recalled their conversation. "He said you guys had a fight and that if I saw you to let him know. Something about him needing to apologize and that he had some hybrid news."

Caroline laughed dryly, shaking her head. "Ugh, don't worry about it. I'll track him down and figure out whatever it is he wants. I'm not in a hurry to talk to him though."

"What happened last night?" Matt asked, concerned.

Caroline shrugged. "You know how he's been lately. Everything is about project hybrid. I have been super understanding and supportive with it all, but he hasn't been here for me in a long time. Did you hear about what happened the other night?" Matt shook his head, his arms coming to fold across his chest. Looking around, Caroline grabbed his arm and pulled him aside toward the Grill. "A couple nights ago, a few of Tyler's little hybrid buddies decided to abduct and torture me for a few hours."

"They what?" Matt hissed, his eyes wide and angry. "Why would they do that? I thought they were on our team."

"Apparently the leader of the insurgency, Kim, decided she wanted to piss Tyler off and apparently physically harming me was the best they could come up with." Caroline let out an exasperated breath. "Tyler showed up and stopped it, but then he just sent me home with Elena. He decided to stay and continue plotting against Klaus and hanging out with these crazy people. I might be overreacting or being a bit dramatic, but I took that as him finally making a clear choice of the hybrids over me."

"Gosh Care," Matt breathed, looking her over carefully. "Are you alright?"

Caroline shrugged. "Honestly, not really, but I'll get over it. It's just still kind of fresh, you know? I think I knew he was going to pick them over me in the end, I just didn't have a clue it was going to be like this."

"Wow," he sighed, shaking his head as he placed his hands on his hips. "That just doesn't sound like Tyler. He loves you so much."

"Loved," Caroline frowned, rubbing her forehead sadly. "He used to love me, but now I'm not really so sure. He just-"

"Care?" Caroline and Matt both turned to see Tyler standing with his hands tucked away in his pants pockets casually as he watched them closely. "Can I talk to you?"

Matt flashed Caroline a cautious look. "I'll be fine Matt, it's alright," she answered, reaching up to give his arm a squeeze. "Thanks."

As he passed, Tyler gave him a stern expression before turning back to Caroline. "How are you?" he asked tentatively.

"Fine," Caroline answered dryly. "You?"

"I'm ok," he murmured, shrugging. "Didn't get much sleep last night." Caroline pursed her lips in thought at his words. Maybe she had been a tad bit premature in calling for a break and thinking it was permanent. Maybe- "I was up almost all night with Hayley trying to solidify our plan, and I think we finally got something."

"And there it is," she whispered to herself, feeling more secure with her decision than ever.

"What?" Tyler asked in confusion as he missed what she said.

Shaking her head, Caroline plastered a Miss Mystic sized fake, pageant smile on her face. "Nothing. Matt was saying you wanted to tell me something about the hybrids?"

"Yeah," Tyler nodded, taking a step closer to her, glancing carefully in both directions. "It's happening tonight."

Her face scrunching up in misunderstanding, Caroline blinked over at him. "What is happening tonight?"

"We're getting rid of Klaus once and for all," Tyler said, smiling brightly. "Well, at least for a little while anyway."

"You're what?" Caroline hissed, her eyes wide and her face angry. "What the hell does that even mean?"

"Hayley found a witch that is powerful enough to do a body jumping spell, and-"

"I'm sorry, Hayley?" Caroline asked in disbelief. "Hayley found that powerful of a witch? Where?"

Tyler shrugged, shaking his head. "I don't know. It all happened so fast. She left to follow a lead and she jus got back last night and said we were a go, that the witch is strong enough."

"Ok, so where is this witch?" she questioned, looking around. "I think it's a good idea to have Bonnie meet her before you trust any kind of magic she can or cannot do, don't you think? What if she does some different weird spell and turns you all into frogs?"

Irritated, Tyler rolled his eyes. "The witch is fine, Caroline. It will work. She's going to transfer Klaus's body into mine and we're going to encase it in cement." When Caroline just stared blankly back at him, Tyler huffed. "It's just for a little while so all the hybrids can escape and Klaus won't be able to follow them."

As the awkward silence drew out between them, Tyler's frustration grew. "Well? Aren't you going to say something?"

"Probably not," Caroline mumbled, her arms now firmly crossed over her chest.

"Why not?" he questioned angrily.

"Because I don't have anything nice to say," she hissed back, her eyes furious again. "This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard, Tyler! You threw this piece of crap plan, no offense, together in what, a few hours based on some witch you've never even met? How do you, A, know she's even real, and B, that she's as strong as Hayley claims she is? Who died and made Hayley a good judge of anything? Last time I checked she wasn't the brightest crayon in the box."

"You're being ridiculous right now," Tyler growled, shaking his head as he glanced around them again to make sure no one was listening. "This was not the reaction I was expecting."

Letting out a strained laugh, Caroline felt like her eyes were about to bug out of her head. "And what reaction was that, Tyler?"

"I thought you would be mad that I volunteered," he said honestly. "I thought you would be over our little fight and be supportive of me again instead of this Hayley hating crap."

"Ok," Caroline murmured, pursing her lips together tightly in irritation. "I heard what you have to say and now I'm leaving. Good luck with that, Tyler. I hope Klaus doesn't rip your head off when this super well thought out plan blows up in your face," she hissed, turning and storming off.

* * *

From his place speaking to Mayor Lockwood, Klaus watched the heated argument between Tyler and Caroline begin and end, all the while trying his best to at least absorb the gist of what Carol Lockwood was saying to him.

It took every fiber of his not well developed self-control not to listen in on their conversation. It would've been easy enough, but he would've felt cheapened by the shallow move.

Klaus had done a lot of thinking the past two days that he had forced himself to go Caroline-free. He had decided that if he was serious about pursuing the blonde vampire's affections that he needed to actually start acting serious about it. As much as the process would irritate him beyond belief, using things like patience, understanding and kindness, if he committed himself to trying to win Caroline Forbes heart, he would do so fully and completely. Using cheap tactics like listening in on conversations between her and Tyler and nitpicking their relationship, or what he was now guessing is the scraps of a relationship, for fair game won't work.

As Klaus watched Caroline walk away from Tyler and head into the Mystic Grill, he felt his anticipation for speaking to her grow. "I'm sorry, Carol, would you excuse me? I'm afraid I'm rather parched. I'm going to head inside for a drink and peruse the auction items."

"Oh, of course," she answered politely, reaching out her hand to shake his. "Thank you again for the generous donation."

"Not a problem," he murmured, turning on his heal and swiftly navigating through the throngs of people towards his hearts desire.

* * *

As Caroline casually wandered around looking at all the auction items, her eye twitched as a ping of recognition went off in her brain and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end; Klaus had entered the Grill and Caroline could feel his presence. Instinct kicked in and Caroline caught herself just as her head began to turn to scan the room and search him out.

Sighing, she forced her eyes forward and moved on to the next auction item. It was a painting of a snowflake. At first glance, Caroline thought it was just a simple winter themed painting for the pre-Christmas event, but when she looked more closely at it, she started to feel a sense of familiarity. The brush strokes were long and soulful and there was something incredibly sad about it. Suddenly the simple Christmas snowflake didn't seem so simple. It seemed abandoned, captured forever by oil paint in it's state of emptiness against the dark, black sky.

"Hello Caroline."

It was at that moment, when his voice cut through her train of thought that her eyes fell to the perfectly scribbled signature in the bottom left-hand corner. "Of course this is yours," she breathed, looking over her right shoulder to where Klaus was now her side, his hands folded behind his back naturally as he inspected his painting.

"What do you think?" he asked quietly, his gaze lazily shifting over to her as she studied the snowflake.

Caroline let out a long breath, pursing her lips together in thought at the end, her head tilting to the side. "Honestly?" she asked, meeting his gaze.

"I expect nor want anything less from you," Klaus answered, a small smile turning up the corners of his mouth.

"It's incredibly sad," she said, looking back to the painting in question. "There's this hollow, loneliness it gives off... it's heartbreaking."

Blinking over at young blonde, Klaus turned his attention back to his most recent artistic creation. "Interesting," he murmured. "Tell me more."

Caroline sighed as her eyes scanned the painting in its entirety, almost as if she was transfixed on it. Klaus noted that her sigh was not one of annoyance, but one of contentment, and it created a similar feeling of ease for him as well. "The overall feeling is morose," Caroline said, her eyes narrowing as she studied the dark depths. "It's just cold and alone, like it's lost in the darkness."

Klaus swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat at her words, his eyes trying to hide the way she could turn him into the self-conscious, lonely young man he used to be instead of the powerful, assertive one he prided himself on being now. "Yes, well," he murmured quietly, shifting uneasily on his feet. "I just wanted to paint something... seasonal," he joked, feeling rewarded with the angelic tones of her quiet laughter.

"Something seasonal," she smiled, shaking her head at the joke. "That's a good one."

"So you like it?" Klaus asked, hoping it would receive her approval.

Nodding, Caroline turned to look at him with genuine appreciation, a look that Klaus was not sure he'd ever received before. "I do." The pair fell into a state of comfortable silence, smiling and staring at each other as the soft melody of familiar Christmas songs floated around them. Clearing her throat, Caroline awkwardly scrunched her nose and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Do you have a second?" she asked quietly.

"For you?" Klaus asked, smirking. "Always, sweetheart."

Caroline rolled her eyes despite the fact that a blush was creeping onto her cheeks. "Stop trying to be charming."

"What if I'm not trying?" Klaus asked flirtatiously, unable to stop the sincere smile that she so easily brought out of him.

It was at that moment that she felt eyes on her and Caroline's darted over to meet Hayley's. The Werewolf was standing at the bar, her eyes locked on Caroline and her face was sour. "What the hell's her problem?" she murmured.

Klaus turned and instantly found the 'her' Caroline had been referencing. "Ah yes, Tyler's she wolf lady friend. She's a bit scantily clad for an event littered with children's activities."

"She looks like a hooker," Caroline grumbled, glaring openly right back at Hayley.

Klaus's eyes darted between the pair, letting out an amused chuckle. "Not that watching you two glare at each other from across the room wouldn't be fun, but I thought you had something you wanted to discuss, sweetheart."

"Right, sorry," Caroline apologized, averting her eyes back to Klaus. "Could we sit for a minute?"

"Sure," Klaus nodded, gesturing for an unused booth. As Caroline moved to sit, an idea dawned on him. "Give me just a moment, love. I'll grab us some champagne."

"Klaus, I can't drink here," Caroline argued, giving him a stern look. "I'm still eighteen and in high school."

"I won't tell if you don't," he whispered, winking at her. "Besides, this is our thing."

Scoffing, Caroline watched him prance off in the direction of the bar. "We don't have a thing!" she called after him, hearing his laughter as he maneuvered through the throngs of avid auctioneers.

* * *

As Klaus approached the bar, he recognized a familiar face. "Ah, hello Donovan," he greeted a bit more cheery than he normally would've liked, but Klaus decided he was in a good mood and wasn't going to let ceremony stand in the way. "Can I trouble you for a nice bottle of champagne?"

Sighing, Matt tossed the rag he was holding into his shoulder as he stood in front of the Original. "It's an open bar, Klaus. You can have a glass of something, but I don't think I'm allowed to just hand over a whole bottle."

"That sounds excellent and all, mate," Klaus murmured, reaching in his back pocket to fish out his wallet, "but I'll just pay for it, if that's alright."

Rolling his eyes, Matt walked over to the champagne bottles and grabbed one, setting it on the bar in front of Klaus. "Here, just take it. They're already paid for anyway."

"Much obliged," Klaus smirked, tipping his head to the much younger human as he handed Matt a large bill.

"I said it's fine, Klaus," Matt said, uneasily holding out the money towards the Original.

"Christmas bonus," he shrugged back, dismissing the boy's attempt at returning it. "While you're here, would you mind tracking me down a couple flutes?"

Nodding, Matt disappeared in the direction of the kitchen for some real glasses instead of the plastic cups they were serving the alcohol in.

"Saw you with Caroline Forbes." As Klaus leaned against the bar casually, waiting for his glasses, Hayley had taken the opportunity to approach him.

Not missing a beat, Klaus rotated slightly, raising an eyebrow challengingly at the female werewolf. "First of all, sweetheart, that was not a proper sentence, but I applaud you for trying all the same. Second, since we've never formally been introduced, I will be gracious and let it slide that you thought that you could engage me in conversation. Finally, I didn't like the way you were staring at Caroline just now." Standing to his full height, Klaus glared down into the now unsure and intimidated eyes of Hayley as his previously lighthearted face turned dark. "Consider this your first and only warning. If I see you do as much again, I will rip out your heart and feed it to you myself."

"Here's your glasses."

Klaus broke eye contact with Hayley, a comfortable smile easily sliding back into his face as he turned and accepted the glasses from Matt. "Thank you very much," Klaus said pleasantly enough as Matt turned to go back to his job.

"Enjoy the rest of your day," Klaus smiled warningly at Hayley as he left her looking dumbfounded and slightly sick to her stomach by the bar as he approached Caroline. Popping the cork of the champagne, Klaus set the two glasses down and poured one for himself and the other for Caroline before gracefully sliding into the booth. "To new beginnings," he said, holding up his glass in a toast towards her.

"What does that mean?" Caroline asked cautiously.

Smiling brightly at her, Klaus shrugged nonchalantly. "It means whatever you want it to mean. Personally, I would like to start over with you, Caroline. I want the chance to show you how a real man would treat you, how you deserve to be treated each and every day."

Sighing, Caroline clinked her glass with Klaus's, their eyes locked as they each took a sip. "Unfortunately life is not that simple," she murmured, setting her glass down. "And before you get too engrossed in shamelessly hitting on me, I want to say something."

Laughing, Klaus mimicked her motion, setting his glass down as he folded his hands in front of him on the tabletop. "The floor is yours, love."

"The other night when you showed up at my house," she said, taking a deep breath to try and gain courage. "I just- it was a nice thing for you to do and I wanted to thank you again."

Nodding thoughtfully, Klaus grabbed his drink and took another sip. "I appreciate that, Caroline, but I would appreciate it even more if you told me what is bothering you so much."

Caroline swallowed hard at his comment, her mind buzzing with panic. "I don't know what-"

"Come now, sweetheart. I thought we were past all this keeping things from each other business," he said quietly, his voice surprisingly calm. "I can feel something has you worried and since now you feel anxious having brought it up, I am getting the sneaking suspicion that it has something to do with little old me."

"Klaus, I-"

"Are you playing me, Caroline?" Klaus asked, his face falling and his anger rolling off of him in waves. "Is this another one of your grand distractions while your one of the Mystic Falls Super Friends tries to stab me in the back?"

Caroline clenched her jaw in anger at his accusations. "No, it's called you are being a jerk right now."

"Well then, please, explain to me what you aren't telling me so I can stop being a jerk," Klaus grumbled, downing the rest of his glass and pouring more champagne.

Caroline bit the inside of her cheek as she tried to decide what to do. Klaus could tell she felt guilty and anxious about the new information Tyler had given her that morning and he would easily be able to tell that she was lying, but she couldn't tell him the truth because he would kill Tyler. "You're really putting me between a rock and a hard place right now," she mumbled, dejectedly looking over at him.

Klaus nodded to himself, taking another sip of alcohol and forcing himself to calm down. Finally he sighed, looking her over. "I am not trying to put you in a difficult situation, Caroline. I am offering you an opportunity to earn my trust."

Caroline growled, rubbing her forehead an agitation at his words. "This sucks." Glaring back up at him, Caroline drank the rest of what was in her glass and held it out to him for a refill. "Listen, I can't tell you exactly what is bothering me because I know you would flip out and kill someone that I care about. That being said, I do want you to trust me. So what do I do?"

"That is quite the dilemma, sweetheart," Klaus smirked, topping her drink off. "I guess you have to chose."

"Ugh, fine!" she hissed. "Tyler and I had a fight last night and we broke up, probably for good and I saw him this morning and he just went on a 'I want to kill Klaus' rant, ok?" she whispered under her breath. "The whole time Tyler was talking to me I felt guilty because now I'm not so sure I'm on board with being an accessory to murder and then I felt guilty for not being supportive of him."

Klaus chuckled dryly, rolling his eyes. "You have nothing to worry about, Caroline. If Tyler Lockwood despising and wanting to kill me was something I give any serious merit to, he would've been dead months ago."

Caroline breathed a sigh of relief, slouching back in her seat. "So you aren't going to kill him?"

"Not today," Klaus said, his white teeth practically glowing. "Can't promise anything for tomorrow though," he joked, earning a slight laugh out of Caroline.

"That's not funny," she hissed, annoyed with his easy-going attitude on killing people. "You've got to stop threatening to kill people."

"Would that make you happy?" Klaus asked seriously, suddenly his playful demeanor was gone.

Exasperated, Caroline sighed. "It's not about what I want, Klaus. You should just stop doing it. You don't have to kill anyone."

"Not exactly true," he argued, pursing his lips together in thought. "Humor me, Caroline. If I tried to be a bit... tamer, would that make you happy?"

It was suddenly very clear that what Klaus was asking was much deeper than his threats. He was trying to feel her out, to see if there was any possibility that she would give him a chance, that she could see him as more than a monster, a murderer. Caroline faltered under the intensity of his gaze, not liking how her stomach was turning into knots. "I... Klaus," she sighed again, not knowing what to say.

"It's alright," he murmured, understanding her reluctance to speak. "I have finally decided what I want, and what I want, Caroline, is you. I know you feel something for me and you are hesitant to embrace it, and while I am not known for my patience, I will wait for you for as long as it takes."

Caroline sighed loudly as she took in the serious expression on Klaus's face. For as long as Caroline could remember, she had wanted to hear a speech like that given to her from someone, but now that she had, she didn't know how to respond. It was from Klaus after all. Klaus, who had spent a millennium selfishly doing whatever he wanted. Klaus who had killed so many people, some of which Caroline cared for. He was selfish, manipulative, impatient, calculating, and rude with a short fuse... but he could also be caring, compassionate, and gentle, a side that Caroline was beginning to wonder if other people knew existed.

"Klaus, I-" just as she was formulating an answer, Caroline's phone rings. "I'm sorry," she breathed, looking down at her phone to see Stefan's smiling face staring back at her. "It's Stefan. I should probably take this," she explained quietly.

Klaus nodded silently, his lips pursed tightly together. "Of course," he said without a hint of agitation.

"Thanks," Caroline murmured, picking up the phone and sliding from the booth. "Hey Stef, what's up?" she asked into the device as she walked away to find a quiet place to talk.

* * *

Caroline checked over her shoulder before slipping out the side door of the Grill into the alleyway. Sighing in relief, she quickly approached where Stefan was casually leaning against the brick wall waiting for her. "Ok, what's the emergency?" she asked, stopping a few feet away from him as he stood.

"We have a problem," Stefan said, his face serious. "We have to stop Tyler from body jumping Klaus. I broke into his house to try and find the sword, but I couldn't. He must've moved it, and if Tyler wants to get rid of Klaus, we are going to need that to get to the cure."

"About that..." Caroline mumbled. "If Tyler's plan goes through, that might be the least of my worries."

His face scrunching up in confusion, Stefan shook his head at her. "I don't understand. What do you mean?"

"Stefan, I haven't been entirely honest with you," she admitted, embarrassed.

"Caroline, if you need to tell me something important, you better tell me now," he grumbled angrily.

"I can't say everything because I promised I wouldn't, but if something happens to Klaus, I don't know if I will be around," she said nervously.

Stefan unhappily looked at Caroline as he placed his hands on his hips, his irritation evident. "You are going to tell me what that means later, but right now we have to stop Tyler."

Caroline was about to agree when she looked to the mouth of the alley and her stomach dropped. "Stefan..." she whispered, her eyes locked on the people slowly approaching.

"What?" he asked, looking back to Caroline who nodded her head for him to turn around. Glancing over his shoulder, Stefan came face to face with a very angry Tyler and half his hybrid pack. "Tyler," he greeted calmly, turning to face him and catching the rest of the pack sauntering up behind Caroline. They were surrounded.

"Stefan," Tyler grumbled, leaning to look past him to the nervous looking blonde beyond him. "Seriously, Care? I told you my plan in confidence and you go and blab it to him?"

Caroline shrugged, shaking her head. "I had to Tyler. You can't get rid of Klaus. We need him to find the cure."

"Is that all you need him for, Caroline?" Tyler growled, his jaw set tight as he glared at her.

Scoffing, Caroline rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Did you seriously just ask me that question?"

Tyler let out a low growl, his eyes darkening. "Hayley saw you in the Grill with Klaus. She said you looked comfortable, like you were on a date or something. You couldn't even wait a day?" he shouted, taking a few steps in her direction, Stefan planting himself in between Tyler and Caroline, planting his hands firmly on the hyrbrid's chest.

"Calm down, Tyler," Stefan warned.

Instantly Tyler shoved Stefan back and the vampire almost tumbled into Caroline as the other hybrids started moving forward, their faces full of anger. "Screw you, Stefan," Tyler hissed, straightening his jacket as he cracked his neck.

"What is your problem, Tyler?" Caroline scowled, her hand resting nervously on Stefan's back as she switched between keeping her eyes on the hybrids behind her and in front of her. "Call off your gang."

"No, I don't think so," he said, shaking his head. "I can't have you two running off and ruining this for us. We've waited long enough. It's happening tonight."

"You can't do this, Tyler," Stefan argued. "What about Elena? We need Klaus to get the cure!"

Tyler shook his head, a smirk on his lips as he turned to leave. "Take them to the Lockwood cellar and chain them up."

"Tyler!" Caroline yelled after him.

"I'm sorry Care," Tyler apologized, glancing over his shoulder. "It's for the best. We will talk about this when everything settles and I'm back."

"Tyler!" she screamed as someone grabbed her from behind, snapping her neck.

* * *

From his place in his booth, Klaus stared into his glass of champagne, watching the bubbles float to the surface and disappear. He wasn't sure if he was waiting for Caroline or just staying here to pass the time. As he raised the glass to his lips, Klaus halted his movement, blinking in confusion. Something was wrong. Through his bond, he could sense something odd, then as quickly as it came, it was gone.

Setting the glass down, he frowned in confusion. Narrowing his eyes, Klaus stared off into space as he tried to focus on his link, to feel Caroline. "Nothing," he murmured, his frown increasing. Quickly standing, Klaus sped from the Grill at vampire speed out into the fundraiser, his eyes scanning the crowd for any sign of Caroline or hint that something was amiss.

"Nothing," he growled under his breath, unhappily staring out into the happy faces of the Winter Wonderland event.

Klaus didn't know what this meant. Caroline was gone from his mind and nowhere to be found. Had something happened? Was she alright? Did the bond just break on its own?

"Here he is!" Still frowning but not as much as previously, Klaus turned to see Mayor Lockwood approaching with a small group of elderly people. "This is Klaus Mikealson, the artist of the painting you liked so much. Klaus, would you mind telling us a little bit about it?"

Sighing, Klaus wiped the frown off his face and did his best to look as neutral as possible. "Certainly," he said, bowing his head slightly and giving a small smile, all the while trying to calm the feeling that something bad was on the horizon.


End file.
